Clarke POV

I paced nervously back in forth in the kitchen and looking at the clock. I still had an hour before the joint council meeting and I didn't know what to do with myself. Dani and Nyx were hiding up in Nyx's room for the moment and I wondered briefly what they were up to, but I couldn't bring myself to go up to them. Sephy and the rest of the council members were already at Town Hall and getting the council room ready. I was so nervous that I was shooting random sparks into the air.

Finally, I heard a pair of footsteps approach the kitchen and I looked up hopefully. I sighed in relief at seeing them and they came over and enveloped me in a tight embrace.

"Clarke, honey," Nyx said softly as she kissed the top of my head, "It's going to be alright."

"I'm just so nervous," I said into Dani's chest. "I'm meeting Lexa's council for the first time as the leader of my council. I'm scared of what they'll think of me. That they'll judge me."

Dani chuckled softly, "Niron, they will judge you, but it'll also give you a chance to judge them. Take this opportunity to watch them and get a feel for them. Some of the council members have been there since her mother's time. Some are very new to their seat. You may actually see something that Lexa doesn't."

I looked up at her and asked, "What do you mean?"

"What she means," Nyx said, "is that you may be able to see a threat that these people may present where Lexa won't. She's your lifemate. There's an overwhelming need to protect. Use that and feel them out. I'll be doing the same."

"You will?"

"My job," she said, kissing me gently, "is to protect the both of you. As is Dani's. This is too important of a meeting to have someone try to dissuade or hinder what has to be done. Your council agrees with you, so you have the full backing of them. Don't let Lexa's try to bully you."

"That only makes me feel a tiny less nervous," I replied honestly.

"How much time do we have, Dani," Nyx asked.

"A little less than an hour," she replied.

"That's enough time, I think."

"Wait, what are you talking about," I asked as they guided me out of the kitchen.

"There's one very good way to relax and pass the time to get your mind off of this," Dani replied with a slow smile.

Nyx left and walked down the hall a bit and opened a door. She jerked her head and we followed her into a bedroom.

"What," was the only word I got out before they showed me exactly what they meant.

We arrived at the council room with ten minutes to spare. Sephy took one look at us and stormed over.

"What did you do, Nyx," she demanded.

I looked over in surprise and finally saw what she meant.

"I had Dani cut my hair," she replied, unruffled.

"But it's all gone," she whined.

For the first time this afternoon, I took a really good look at her and noticed that she had really cut her hair.

"I still have hair, Seph. I'm not bald."

"But why?"

"I needed a change. You don't like it," Nyx asked a little hurt.

Now, I understood why it was so much easier to run my hands through it earlier.

"It's just, It's just so different," Seph said, stepping back to get a better look. "You've always kept your hair long."

"And in a braid," Nyx replied. "I hardly ever have it down. When I do, it hangs nearly to my knees. I just wanted to do something different."

"You know Lexa is going to be pissed."

Nyx smirked and replied, "I know. She'll get over it."

"Fine," Seph grumbled, "At least hair grows back."

Nyx laughed and hugged her, "It does."

Seph left and went back to where she had been sitting.

I looked over at Nyx and she was looking at me shyly and asked, "Are you okay with it? It's not too much?"

I walked over to her and hugging her, I said, "It's not too much. I like running my hands through it."

"Thank you," she said and kissed me. "Come one. It's almost time. We should take our places."

I nodded and we walked over. I sat down with Nyx and Dani standing behind and to either side of me. I looked around and everyone seemed just as nervous. Then it was time. The middle of the table sprang to life and we found ourselves staring at Lexa and her council.

I cleared my throat and said, "de Pakstoka, you honor us with your presence. Thank you for agreeing to this joint meeting."

"The honor is mine, Chancellor Griffin. I have made my Council aware of the situation that your people have brought to our attention."

"Thank you for doing so, de Pakstoka. My council and I realize that the Ice Pack is as much as a threat to us as it is to your people. We are hoping to work with you in order to protect both our peoples and this territory."

"That's only because it was one of your people that has wormed their way into the Ice Pack," an old man with whiskers barked out.

I felt Nyx lean down and whisper, "That's Councilor Nikolai Drovich. He's the representative of the Northern Border. He's a rather mean bastard, so you'll have to be blunt and stand up to him."

"That is true, Councilor," I replied. "The man you speak of is a human who we expelled from our camp and de Pakstoka kindly expelled him from the territory. He presented a viable threat to my people and had to be removed in order to keep our humans in line. If you say that he wormed his way into Ice Pack territory, it is only because they purchased him at one of the slave markets. He is their slave, not ours."

"You say that he's a viable threat," a female Councilor spoke up.

Dani leaned over this time and whispered, "That's Councilor Erica Gardner. She's new to the seat. I haven't got much intel on her yet."

I nodded slightly and turned my attention to her and replied, "That is correct. He threatened to attack us and take control of Manassas for him and his people, killing us in the process."

They all took a collective gasp and I heard rumblings about the outrage.

"Councilors, please," Lexa ordered. "We've now established that this human is not to be trusted. It's also been established that this man is a slave of the Bear King. Because of this we cannot outright kill him nor can we let him into our territory knowing that he plans on spying for the Bear King. This meeting is to discuss a solution to prevent him from entrance and keep our territory from possible invaders."

I looked at Lexa's councilors and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head slightly and noticed a man that seemed overly interested in a pen he was fiddling with. Uncapping and capping it in a pattern. I waved my hand slightly to get Nyx's attention.

She leaned down and I whispered, "The man on the far right. Middle age, mouse brown hair, glasses."

"I see him," she whispered.

"Watch what he does with his pen. It's like he's doing it in a pattern. I think it repeats every so often."

There was a bit of silence and then she whispered, "It is a pattern. It's ancient Morse code. It says, 'Manassas. Humans. Ice Pack. Threat'."

"Who's he sending it to," I asked.

She growled low at her throat and I could feel a slow rage build in her. I turned my attention back to the screen and saw Lexa look up suddenly and peer at the man I was talking about.

"Councilor Kilpatrick," Lexa said, calmly. "That's an interesting pen you have there. May I?"

He was startled enough to accidentally stick himself hard enough with the tip that a bead of blood seeped out of his finger, but quickly said, "Of course, de Pakstoka," and handed it over.

Lexa inspected it and actually broke it apart into it's individual pieces. She lifted up the cap and blew gently into it and out fell out what looked like a tiny transmitter. Immediately guards grabbed him and hauled him away. Another guard gathered up the pieces of the pen, while Lexa quietly gave him orders.

"I fear that I must apologize for that display, Chancellor," Lexa said as if we were having an everyday conversation and that nothing had happened. "I've had to replace several of my councilors and they were too quickly vetted it would seem."

"All is forgiven, de Pakstoka," I replied smoothly. "It is unfortunate that you have had to deal with such disloyalty in such a short period of time."

"Thank you for understanding, Chancellor," she said. "My councilors have come up with several ideas that they believe may help remove the threat."

"As have mine. Shall we trade?"

"Let's."

We exchanged a myriad of ideas but they were each shut down by both sides and we came to the one that held the most promise.

"I am afraid, de Pakstoka," I said, forlornly. "That none of the ideas our people have come up with leaves us with much hope of keeping our people safe. You personally do not have enough manpower and we are still dealing with our humans to offer much in the way of support to protect the borders."

"That does sadden me, Chancellor," she replied smoothly. "But did you not mention before I left Manassas that there was one more possible solution?"

"I did, but unfortunately there is no one person or persons in either of our people that could create it," I replied, my voice carefully pitched to sound defeated.

"What is this idea that you had, Chancellor," Councilor Richards, representative of the Western Border, asked.

"Councilor, I really do not think that it is prudent to bring it up when there is no one capable of completing the task," I replied.

"Does your council believe that if we did have people that could complete it, that it would work?"

There was a course of ayes from my council and I said, "Yes. It's probably the only solution that would prevent the Ice Pack from getting it's grips back into the Forest Pack territory."

"Then please tell us what the possible solution is."

"De Pakstoka," I inquired.

"I give you my permission," she replied, nodding her head slightly.

"Thank you," I replied, "Forest Pack Council could you please turn your attention to the second screen and Councilor Reyes will show you the plan."

Raven gave me one panicked look and I gave her an encouraging smile.

She took a deep breath and began, "Councilors, this is the territory that the Forest Pack currently holds. It's rather large and hard to keep watch on the borders at all times. Hence, why you worry about invaders finding their way in. The solution is quite simple, in reality. We simply cut ourselves off from the rest of the world. Before you ask about how that can be accomplished, this is how we propose to do it."

She then started laying down poles alongside the border and then further inland until there was a single huge pole in the center of the territory.

"Along these metallic poles at the border," she said, "we planned that a ward would be placed, using the poles as support. This would of course, keep people and vehicles out of the territory that is shorter than the height or our poles, some twenty feet, I believe. This would not keep out any kind of flying craft or weapons out of the territory."

She placed an image of a ward going from pole to pole until the the territory was surround by one huge ward.

"This next step is where my team comes in," she said, her confidence showing through her voice. "We then build an impenetrable shield, much like we have here in Manassas. Because of the size of it and the height that we wish to maintain, we'd have to place larger and larger poles systematically throughout the territory until they reach the largest, which would stand some five miles straight up. This is the height that the strongest drone can maintain for only a short period of time. This is what the shield would look like if it were visible."

She gave us a side view of the territory and the shield ended up looking like a rounded step pyramid. I also noticed that it did extend several feet underground.

There was a look of amazement as she completed the simulation. She spun it around slowly so that they could set it from all sides.

"You said that this would be impenetrable along with the wards," one of the councilors asked.

"I did, Councilor," she replied. "The shield and ward would only be impenetrable to people or manmade objects. The only points of entry would be at the border gates. The shield and ward at those spots would work in tandem when the Gate Commander locks and unlocks the ward placed there. Much like what happens when we ward a room. Air, weather, flora, fauna would remain unaffected."

"Tell me why that this solution would not work," Councilor Drovich demanded.

"In order for this to work," Raven replied, "someone would need to create a true living model of our territory, including the ground underneath the surface about a hundred feet down. From there, a metal mage would construct the poles on the model which would then happen in the real world. At that point, the wards would be put into place and the shield placed on top of that. In order to be successful, Councilors, there also needs to be a coordinated communication with each Gate Commander to create the entrances of those gates. Each Commander has to work simultaneously in order to allow those entrances. If they stagger it, the ward and shield will become permanent and we will never be able to leave again."

"Councilors," I said bringing their attention back to me. "This solution is only viable if we have extremely strong earth mages, metal mages, and a mage strong enough to build such a strong and long ward. From speaking with de Pakstoka, this territory does not have anyone strong enough to do this. That is why I pushed this idea off to the side."

"Are the two of you positive about that," Councilor Stevens, representative of the Southern Pack, asked.

"We are," Lexa answered. "There is no one with that kind of power."

"I beg your pardon, de Pakstoka, but does not your acting Second, Nyx Allistar, possess the particular powers that we need?"

"She does and she does peg out on a power reader," Lexa said. "Unfortunately, she does not have enough power to complete these multiple tasks and survive. This would kill her."

Now, it was Nyx's time to play ball and she said, "I beg to differ, de Pakstoka. I am indeed powerful enough to complete these tasks and survive."

Lexa glared at Nyx and said, "You are just freshly recovered from your ordeal, Ms. Allistar. There is no way that you are recovered enough or powerful enough to take on such a tremendous effort."

"I have to politely disagree with you, de Pakstoka," she said, her voice hinting that she was enjoying this show. "A few days ago, I took it upon myself to test exactly how strong I was since my powers normally peg out on a normal reader. I recruited Councilor Reyes to build a more powerful reader and cameras that could withstand just about anything. We have the footage here, if you'd like to watch it?"

The Forest Pack councilors whispered among themselves and I felt Nyx lay a hand on my shoulder and I reached up and gave it a gentle squeeze. I felt three caresses across my bonds with them and I knew that we supported each other. Finally, they came to a decision and Councilor Drovich leaned in to speak with Lexa. She nodded, but she didn't look happy at what he told her.

He leaned back as Lexa sighed and said, "The council would like to see this footage."

I nodded and Raven cued up the footage. She hit play and there was a side by side view of what was going on in the room from both Nyx's point of view and the cameras laid out, and the improved power reader. Now, everyone had gotten the chance to see exactly what Nyx was truly capable of doing. They gasped in horror as the fake landscape was destroyed by the fire tornados and then it was over.

There was a moment of silence and then Councilor Richards spoke up, "Ms. Allistar, how is it possible that you also used lightning and air in this experiment?'

"I am bonded to Chancellor Griffin and Daniela Rendon. Chancellor Griffin is a lightning mage and Ms. Rendon is an air mage," she replied, unruffled by the question. "Through the bond I am allowed access to their powers. It is not harmful to them in any manner, I assure you."

"Which means that you are quite capable of warding and shielding us from anybody we do not wish to admit into our territory," Councilor Gardner said.

"Yes, Councilor."

"Chancellor Griffin, your council agrees that this is the best solution?"

"Yes," I replied.

"De Pakstoka," she said. "If you agree, we would like to end this meeting so that we may discuss this plan more privately."

Lexa looked up at me and asked, "Is this reasonable to you, Chancellor?"

"It is, but I must forewarn you that the human is already on the move and we have yet to determine which gate he will try to enter through. There is not much time for your Council to decide, de Pakstoka," I said earnestly.

"Thank you for that update, Chancellor," Lexa replied. "I will contact you once a decision has been made."

"Thank you, de Pakstoka. I look forward to hearing from you soon," I replied and the feed cut out.

The tension left my body and I laid my head on the table, suddenly exhausted. I felt hands stroking my hair and back and I sat back up a bit until I was resting on my elbows.

"You did an excellent job, Clarke," Nyx said as she crouched beside me.

"That you did," Dani seconded. "You handled this like you've been doing this all your life."

"Lexa says that you were wonderful and if she were here right now, she'd show you exactly how wonderful," Nyx whispered in my ear.

I shivered, feeling her breath on my ear and closed my eyes in pleasure. Nyx and Dani backed away from me as everyone else came up to speak with me. They moved away from me to speak with Sephy and I immediately wanted them back. They both looked at me as if they heard me and gave me a nod each. They'd be back soon.

Later that night, I was nestled between Nyx and Dani as we watched an old movie on a vidscreen I had moved into my room.

"Do you think we did enough to impress them to agree to this," I asked quietly.

"I think so," Dani replied, but Nyx was quiet.

"Nyx?"

"I'm sorry, love," she said and kissed me on my forehead, "It was enough, but I don't like the fact that I needed to expose myself to them like that."

"It was your idea," Dani said.

"I know," she replied, and rubbed her hand through her hair making it stick up in some places, "the meeting left me with a bad taste in my mouth."

"Do you think one of the Councilors will try something," I asked worriedly.

"I don't know and that's what is bothering me. I've known most of them since we were children and I keep feeling like one of them always seemed to have a greedy look on their face when they saw me using my powers. I just can't remember who it was."

"Does Lexa know about this," Dani asked.

"Yeah, she does. I told her the first chance I got to."

"Well, it's not going to be solved tonight," I said as I straddled Nyx's hips. "Why don't we forget about the meeting for now."

She pulled me down to her and she kissed with with such a depth of love, that my heart rejoiced and returned the favor. That was the beginning of a very long wintry night for us.