Skaifaya

by Cairlinn1991

What if Charlotte was not the only or even the youngest child on the dropship? This is the story of nine-year-old Marie Matthews, who is sent down to earth as a member of the 100. When Murphy is exiled from the 100 Marie follows him and they run into grounders. Separated from the 100 and to become Anya's second how will Marie stay alive and find a new life for herself?

26. Chapter 26 (251 - 261)

Chapter 261

Marie enjoyed their time with the Boat People to her fullest. Lexa and Anya made sure that she got to try out everything which could be even remotely fun.

A full week had passed by almost in a blur and Marie had no idea that they had been here so long already. Each day still held something new. Even it is was just something small. Luna was taking care of the children of the Boat People a lot, teaching them things like strategical thinking through harmless games.

One such game was searching through the whole place for a small token. The children had been given little clues and a map. Marie quickly realized that they all needed to work together as the unique small clues fitted together to fill in the blanks in the map and still the map only led to further clues. It took all of them together nearly the complete day to find the small token.

Marie had frowned a little when Adria had finally pointed out that the token could only be her mother's necklace. She would have expected some little object hidden somewhere and not a piece of jewellery actually worn by the person who had given them the whole task to begin with.

Adria had laughed at the other girl's nonplussed expression.

"What is the sense in finding a token, when she was wearing it all along?" Marie grumbled a little moodily, thinking that all of this had been rather pointless.

Marie's attention was called away from Adria, when she recognized one of the guards from Polis approaching Lexa. The commander and the general had remained behind on one of the decks, just sitting in the sun and talking. Marie was curious what was going on and she had the immediate foreboding that their stay here was going to be cut short.

She left Adria standing there without another word, not even waiting for a response. The guard had briskly said something to the commander and had obviously also been dismissed again already.

Secretly Marie was just waiting for Anya to announce that they finally would officiate their bond and that the adoption would take place. Every new morning, she hoped that the woman would hint at it, but so far, nothing. Slowly, she was getting impatient with the wait, fearing that Anya might have changed her mind in the meantime.

Lexa and Anya had seen her approach of course and Marie was not able to read anything from their expression of what the guard could have wanted from the commander. She aimed for her best innocent look and questioned "Do we have to leave already?" she knew that her tone had taken on a whiny note and it seemed to show an effect as well.

Lexa's eyes were soft and gentle as she looked at the blonde girl and she shook her head in the negative "Not yet, no, Marie" she denied.

Marie's expression brightened "It's so much more fun here" she exclaimed joyfully.

Anya snorted under her breath, shaking her head a little at the girl. She thought for a moment of reprimanding the child, but decided against it. They could work on the girl's focus on her education once they returned to Polis and a normal daily routine had set in again for all of them.

Marie's expression turned more serene when she looked closer at Anya. The general had still made no indication to go through with the adoption. She stepped closer to the woman hesitantly. She knew that no one right now was standing close enough to them to listen to her words.

Gustus was sitting together with Clarke a few meters away, trying to teach the blonde young woman the written form of Trigedasleng further. Both of them were more focused on each other and were surely not even trying to listen to their conversation.

Lexa scrutinized the girl with the hint of a frown, she could not pinpoint where her apparent change of mood had come from at all. The child had seemed utterly happy and content here during the last days and they had done everything to keep her entertained.

Marie fiddled with the hem of her shirt, meeting Anya's brown eyes a little unsurely "About the adoption…" she began lowly, biting at her lower lip for a second "…have you … have you changed your mind?" she added in a fading tone, barely loud enough for the two women to catch her words.

Lexa sighed under her breath. It was obvious that this question must have nagged at the girl's mind for some time now. They had decided together that the adoption ceremony would take place in Polis and not here. They wanted to hold it together for all three of them at once and Lexa did not want to do so here, before she could even warn Titus of it. She would not let the man's opinion deter her choice in the matter, but she still regarded it as important to warn him nevertheless.

"I have not changed my mind, little star" Anya reassured the girl in a strong tone. She bent forward and grasped onto one of her hands, pulling her closer to herself.

"The ceremony will be held in Polis" Lexa said with a slight smile.

Marie frowned a little, tilting her head to the side in confusion. She knew that Anya had wanted it to happen here, so, she could not understand the change in their plans now. She had actually hoped that it would be here, with less people and not in a totally formal setting. "Why in Polis?" she asked with the hint of a pout on her lips. Holding such a ceremony in Polis sounded awfully like it would turn into a grand festive occasion again and she would prefer something small. Marie was well aware that there would be people who would be openly against such an adoption, she would never be of Trikru blood after all "I thought we would do it here. Just the two … eh three of us" she added after the slightest moment of silence.

Lexa and Anya bandied a short mute glance. Lexa had actually wanted it to be a surprise to Marie that she would also participate in the adoption.

"The adoption will take place in Polis, Marie" Lexa repeated in a calm tone, reaching out and placing one hand on the girl back "It will have to be in Polis if a commander participates as well".

Marie needed a moment until the words truly sunk into her mind and when it clicked, her smile brightened even further. She turned slightly so that she was looking up at Lexa with shining grey eyes "You're gonna do it as well?" she questioned just for the clarity of it. She did not want to get her hopes up too high, only to be disappointed when it turned out that Lexa could not do it. She remembered vividly that Lexa had told her previously that she would want to officially claim her too, but could not as the commander.

"Yes" Lexa simply retorted with a nod and she was not surprised in the slightest when Marie threw herself at her in an enthusiastic hug. She caught the girl easily, bringing her up so that her legs could wrap around her own hips.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you" Marie chanted happily, squeezing Lexa's neck tightly.

Anya observed the scene with an honest smile "Easy, Marie, or you're going to throttle the great commander" she chided the child playfully.

Lexa rolled her eyes at her general, while Marie loosened her grip immediately and first threw a sheepish glance at Lexa before she looked over at Anya with a scowl on her lips.

"What did the guard want?" Marie questioned in open curiosity once Lexa sat her down on the ground again and she begrudgingly let go as well.

"Nothing of immediate importance for now" Lexa deflected the question easily "Why don't you join back with the others to continue your play before we it is time for dinner?".

Marie nodded her head immediately, skipping away from them quickly. Adria and the others were still in sight and she knew that they had planned to go for a swim now. Swimming was prohibited once the sun had set, so they only had a limited amount of time left to goof around in the water for now.

She had gotten absolutely well verse in swimming by now and had lost her fear of the endless water as well. Now, it was truly just fun to jump into it and play with the other children. Marie had also found out that she was really good at diving and holding her breath for longer periods of time.

When Luna was out in the water with them, the woman would try to teach those who were interested a special kind of breathing technique, which allowed you to dive even longer. Luna also threw some objects into the water and one after the other they were asked to dive behind it and get it back. Marie was extremely proud of herself for being able to get the object each and every time, without missing it even once.

Marie had also found out that she actually enjoyed fishing. She had learnt from Anya how it was supposed to be done. To her great surprise Clarke had insisted on being there with them. Clarke had been bored even after the first few minutes of waiting and Anya had constantly scolded her for being utterly impatient. To Anya's utter chagrin, Marie had freaked out when they truly caught the first fish. The girl had pleaded in a screeching tone for the fish to be released again without being harmed. In the end Anya had conceded and had in fact let the fish go. Marie still enjoyed fishing. But more for the sake of sitting closely together with Anya and on occasion Lexa, no need for talking, just enjoying each other's company, than getting a fish. She liked seeing the different kind of fish that lived in the depths of the sea, but she did not want them to be killed and finally eaten.

Lexa and Anya both made sure to apply some of the protection against the harsh sun to Marie's fair skin every morning before they allowed her outside.

"You know Adria said…" Marie babbled on happily.

Lexa sighed under her breath, pulling her hands back slightly, trying to reign in her annoyance with the child's chirpy attitude at the moment. Marie was so absorbed in her words about Adria, that she barely sat still for longer than a second.

Anya stood up from the bed, having watched the scene for long enough and she took up the pot with the crème, scooping out a generous amount of the substance.

"Marie hold still" she chided the girl in a slightly sharp tone.

Anya's words seemed to have little effect on the girl though.

"And her smile is so pretty…" Marie continued undisturbed as if she had not heard Anya at all.

Anya bandied one short glance with Lexa, before she simply smacked the crème into Marie's face.

The girl gaped at both of them with wide eyes, obviously totally caught of guard by Anya's actions.

"We both told you to sit still" Anya retorted easily and she reached out and spread some of the crème over Marie's face, removing the rest to distribute it over her upper body instead.

Marie visibly pouted and remained resolutely silent, grey eyes glaring at Anya the whole time.

Lexa tried to hide her amusement at the girl's childish antics "You can go now" she finally allowed Marie to catch up with the other children, with whom she had agree to meet for another swim. She watched the girl run from their room with a slight frown "If I didn't know better, I would say that she has a crush on Adria" she said out lout.

Anya nodded her head in mute agreement.

"But she is so young" Lexa exclaimed with a deepened frown. The girl had been through so much and at times acted so clingy which even belied her age of ten summers, that she had absolutely not thought at all about the fact that their daughter was even old enough to look at someone like that "Too young for this".

Anya snorted slightly under her breath "You were not so much older when you met Costia" she reminded the younger woman with twinkling brown eyes. The scene which had right now played out between them reminded her of something which had occurred to her and Lexa years ago already, only had she then not smacked crème into Lexa's face but warpaint. She could still remember the deep scowl on the young brunette's face back then, black war paint dripping from her still roundish features, green eyes glinting angrily and lips pressed into a thin line of displeasure.

Lexa huffed under her breath. Theoretically, she knew that Anya was right. She had met Costia during her eleventh summer and had instantly felt the connection between them. But had she ever been like this? Was Marie truly already having a crush on someone? She did not even wish to imagine Marie kissing any one in a sexual manner.

"Oh, yes" Anya exclaimed "You have been exactly like that" she affirmed Lexa's internal musing.

Lexa snorted with a shake of her head "Surely not" she denied, rolling her eyes "She is too young to think of someone like that" she added after a moment.

"It will remain innocent for now" Anya said in a decisive tone.

"I hope you are right" Lexa agreed thoughtfully "She is not even officially ours yet…".

They stayed for another complete week until Lexa had proclaimed that they would leave on the following day.

Marie had pouted for a full hour at that proclamation. She had known right from the beginning that they were not going to stay forever, but the thought of leaving did not sit right with her either. She enjoyed having Lexa and Anya to herself the whole day without having to attend lessons or without either of them being occupied with political duties for most of the day. Marie knew all too well that their lives were going to change drastically again once the daily routine of Polis had set in after their return. She wasn't sure if it would make any difference once she was officially their daughter, but she doubted that it would change all that much.

"You know very well that I cannot stay here" Lexa tried to reason with the pouting girl, trying to appease her in a soft tone.

Marie nodded begrudgingly. She knew that Lexa was the commander and that her place was within Polis and logically she also knew that as the commander's seconds – and soon daughter as well – she would also belong into Polis now.

"What are you afraid of?" Lexa questioned, stopping the girl from leaving the room. Anya had left their room before dawn, wanting to join a group of fishermen in their attempt to make bigger prey.

Marie shrugged her shoulders indecisively "I am not afraid" she said defensively "but I like it here…" she added and when Lexa just watched her silently with a heavy piercing gaze, Marie continued lowly "…it will be all different once we are back. I don't wanna only see you to dinner…".

Lexa sighed under her breath and she gave the girl's shoulder a squeeze "We will not only see each other for dinner, Marie, once everything has settled down, I will have more time available as well".

Marie nodded, not looking entirely convinced at all.

"You can participate in the nightblood's trainings as often as you like and I will keep at least an hour a day free only for you" Lexa tried to appease the child even further.

Marie smiled lightly "Sounds alright" she agreed after a moment of silent contemplation. She truly looked forward to seeing the others again, Ontari and Risha the most of course and she really hoped that both of her horses would be fine too. "Do you think that the foal has grown much already?" she questioned, remembering about the foal right now.

"That certainly depends on your definition of "much"" Lexa answered easily with a hint of a smile tilting the lips of her lips upwards. They would not have been gone for longer than three weeks and that was definitely not enough time for the foal to have reached its full heights, but some growth would surely be visible by now.

Saying goodbye to Adria and Luna was a tearful experience for Marie. She had grown to like Adria very much and even Luna had grown on her as she had spent more time with the other children and the leader of the Boat People.

"I will miss it here" Marie said once they woke up again on the shore. When she turned back and looked over the sea, she could not even make out the place where the Boat People lived at all.

"We can come back at one point" Lexa assured the girl easily.

Marie nodded with a slight frown, wondering just how much time would truly pass until they saw each other again. She was diverted from her line of thought by Anya wanting to hoist her onto the general's horse.

"I am sure you look forward to seeing Ontari and Risha again" Anya tried to lift the child's clearly glum mood "You will have a lot to tell to Ontari after all, all that you have seen here. I am sure Ontari has never been here".

Marie contemplated the general's words for a few moments, before something flashed through her grey eyes "You are right. I have soooooo much to tell her and to Boo of course. I can tell him so much about his sister. Adria is soooo amazing…".

Anya nodded with a slight snort under her breath, not really paying too much attention to the child's rambling from that point on. She had heard Marie praising Adria before and she knew that the girl could continue with that for quiet some time.

Chapter 262

Clarke observed Marie closely during their journey back from the Boat People. It almost seemed as if something had changed within the younger girl.

The blonde child smiled much more often again and all in all she just appeared happier. A healthy tan had now replaced her sickly pale complexion and it seemed as if Marie had begun to regain just the slightest bit of weight already.

She was still too thin, but Clarke was sure that Marie would increase her weight quickly now that she could once again eat normally and she had noticed that her appetite must have already returned back to normal as well. Clarke still remembered how Lexa and Anya had to convince Marie to eat even a meagre portion at all meals on their journey to the Boat People. She was fairly certain that Anya and Lexa would begin Marie's physical training again once they reached Polis, so the girl would quickly regain all the muscle mass she had lost during her sickness.

She had caught Anya scolding the child more than once in the dining hall with the Boat People on taking too much desert for herself. She watched the scene mutely from across the room and she had laughed at Lexa attempting to solve the little conflict by negotiating between her general and their daughter, making up a compromise which had appeased both of them.

Clarke could understand to a certain degree why Marie seemed truly downtrodden when they woke up on the shore and there was no sign of any of the Boat People around them any longer.

Their horses and all their equipment were already waiting for them by the treeline. It seemed that Lexa and Anya were in no real hurry to reach the capitol and had already proclaimed that they would travel back in a similar pace they had already used during their journey there. Marie would certainly be able to appreciate the actual sights they travelled by much better now.

Hera had indeed been granted refuge with the Boat People and had stayed with them.

Clarke had known beforehand that Lexa and Anya had wanted to speak with the old woman about her own daughter's talent and she had been surprised to be invited to this conversation. Lexa had brushed her bewilderment of quickly though, saying that it would certainly be helpful if she as a healer could recognize the signs of a repetition of Marie's sickness before it got the chance to get this severe again. Unfortunately, Hera of course did not have any answers to all the questions Clarke found the most interesting, like where this talent actually came from and how it really worked on a molecular level.

Hera had explained to them everything which she could remember from Jude's talent. Clarke found it a little too extreme that Lexa and Anya had insisted to be given a small boat just for this conversation. Marie had not seemed to think anything of it when she was left with Luna and the other children, obviously quite happy to continue playing around with Adria and the others. Gustus had joined them and he had rowed them some distance into the open ocean.

Clarke had been entranced by the view and she was internally amused by the apparent almost paranoid protectiveness from the commander and the general. It truly sounded hilarious to her now, that she had once in the past been convinced that Marie would have a horrible life only filled with violence with them when the truth looked so different.

Jude's talent had manifested itself much earlier in her life than Marie's now had and Clarke still wondered what might have been the reason for Marie's to show itself so late. She did wonder if it would have ever shown on the Ark or if some contact to nature had been needed. Hera had said that her own daughter had first been able to revive a small tree and Anya had described what she had witnessed with the flowers directly before the war against the Mountain.

Clarke still couldn't really imagine just what this must have looked like, but she still vividly remembered it when Marie had healed Lexa from the arrows, wounds which should have killed the commander had magically disappeared in a few seconds, leaving behind nothing but very faint scars.

Hera had explained to them that Jude had also gotten progressively weaker the more often she had used her talent. The woman was convinced that her daughter had been fine as long as she had healed only wounds, but as soon as she had tried to heal diseases or simply restore someone else's energy, it had depleted herself.

Lexa and Anya had both agreed that Marie should only use her talent if strictly needed. They wanted to prevent a repetition of the child nearly being killed by her own talent at all costs. None of them actually knew just how much longer the time would stretch the next time before Marie's talent would kick in to save her. Clarke internally had mussed about the question of how long it could even potentially stretch. She knew of course that a corpse would begin to decay at one point and she somehow sensed that there needed to be a certain maximal time of how long Marie's talent had to revive her. Lexa and Anya had spoken about that too, hypostatising that Marie's soul had apparently not had moved on yet. But Clarke had no idea if she believed in that concept and even if she did, when did a soul leave a body?

Marie would have preferred having her own horse to ride on their way back. But they had only come to the Boat People with four horses and the clan did not keep horses they could easily spare. So, Marie was left again to alternating between sharing a horse with either Lexa or Anya. Internally, Marie did not mind that fact all that much. She knew that she would have been able to steer a horse again physically and mentally, as she did not tire out so quickly anymore. But she actually still enjoyed the physical closeness sharing a hors naturally provided.

Although she was definitely looking forward to seeing Ontari and Risha and all the other nightblood children again, a part of her mind already missed the different daily routine they had had at the Boat Peoples' place and she really hoped that Lexa would keep her word and reserve some free time for her on a daily basis. She wondered if Anya and she would have to move out of the commander's quarters immediately now as well. She had slept really well the last two weeks. Somehow everything had been so exiting and fun through the day, that she had barely noticed how exhausted she physically was after a day of playing around for hours.

"Lexa?" she asked lowly, not yet wanting Anya who was riding beside them to hear what she wanted to question the commander on.

Lexa inclined her head mutely; looking down at the child leaned against her chest with an open and almost tender expression, waiting for her to speak up. Marie's expression looked slightly troubled, so whatever was on her mind was obviously worrying the girl.

"Can we stay in your rooms?" Marie asked after a beat of silence, grey eyes looking up at the commander expectantly.

Lexa blinked for a second, wondering what the girl actually meant with her question.

Marie had not spoken as softly as she had hoped and Anya's snorted slightly under her breath. "We will figure out our sleeping arrangements together with Ontari in the upcoming weeks" she answered for both of them. So far, the blonde child still visibly enjoyed sharing a bed with them. But they also knew that this should not be a durable solution, even less so with Ontari in the picture. Anya had no intention of letting their impending adoption change her relationship as a first to the Ice Nation nightblood girl. Ontari had more than proven herself worthy to Anya and she would treat her accordingly.

Lexa sighed slightly under her breath. She enjoyed sharing her private space much more with the girl than she had ever expected and it was actually hard to imagine being truly alone again for some time. She did not wish to ban Marie from her quarters and the child would certainly always be welcomed to sleep next to her as well, but Lexa knew of course that Marie would need to get a little more independent of them in that regard; she was no toddler after all. Marie did not seem all that reassured by Anya's answer and worry lingered visible within her grey eyes.

She tightened her arms in reassurance around the girl's smaller body, making their contact the slightest bit closer "You will always be welcomed in my quarters" Lexa said in a decisive tone "even after moving back to your own rooms" she added after a second.

Marie smiled up brightly at Lexa, satisfied enough with the commander's reassurance for now. She had occasionally tiptoed back over into the commander's quarters before and neither of her future moms had scolded her for it back then either. So, she guessed that she could live with the fact if they moved back into their original quarters.

Ontari's mood had continued to plummet down with each passing day without any word of the whereabouts of the small group which had travelled with Marie. She deeply regretted now that she had rejected the younger girl's advances on sharing a real goodbye. There were so many things left unsaid in her mind, that she almost desperately wished to be able to turn back the time. She should have just listened to Marie, giving the blonde girl a chance to say her goodbyes and finally admit out loud just how much she personally had treasured their friendship.

She had learned from Boo that the travel to his former home and where the Boat People resided could be done in around a day if really hastened or could take up to three or four days, really just depending on how fast the group had travelled. Ontari did not think that it was a good sign that there was no word from the commander at all. Titus had been quiet frank about the fact that Lexa had not planned to return to the capitol – if there was no dire emergency – until after Marie had passed away from her sudden illness.

Ontari found it extremely hard to imagine how things would change once the commander and the general returned to Polis. She could only try to fathom how the loss of Marie would change them. She remembered that the younger girl had mentioned that the general had already lost another second months ago. She had been sure of her place with the Trikru woman before, but what if this bereavement now changed that again?

Marie's wolf seemed as lost as Ontari internally felt and it had almost naturally developed that Risha now stayed close to her through the day, even going as far as sleeping at the foot of her bed. During the first days Ontari had tried to actively shoo the wolf away, not wanting the animal's constant presence as a painful reminder of the younger girl's absence, but with time she had begun to draw comfort from Risha. She would certainly never love the wolf in the way Marie had, but Ontari had decided to take care of the animal for her friend's stead.

After living together with the other nightbloods for almost two weeks, she found their presences tolerable enough. But Ontari did not really wish to stay for them forever. She had liked sharing quarters together with Anya and of course Marie much better. But she was unsure if the general would even want her to remain with her at all. She had to keep the possibility in mind that Anya would reject her altogether now.

She knew that Aden was making an effort to have her at least somewhat included in the interactions with the rest of the conclave, but as the time passed Ontari continued to consciously isolate herself from the others.

A very small part of her mind still refused to acknowledge that she would never see Marie again. She had not begun yet to truly grieve for the loss of her first and probably only ever real friend. She still had no idea how she had been found worthy of the younger girl's compassion and she would never know now either.

Ontari was even more so conscious of the fact that the rest of the conclave would be set up in an arena to fight to the death for the position of being the next commander. Even thinking about the fact that she had already lost Marie – the first person she had ever really allowed herself to care for – just cut too deeply to contemplate on it and she could not afford to be distracted by something as weak as feeble feelings for the other nightbloods once the day of the fall of Lexa came and she knew that it would one day in the future. She still was not sure if she actually felt comfortable with the concept of being responsible for so many lives as the potential next commander. Nia had made ruling sound so easy in a way, that Ontari still found it difficult to now acknowledge the differences in the mindset she was taught in the capitol.

The training sessions were barely able to hold her attention at the moment as thoughts of Marie unbidden continued to cloud her mind. Ontari still performed well enough in all trainings that she was not called out on her lack of attention, but she doubted that this would continue forever either. It almost felt as if Titus was lenient with them but she shooed that idea from her mind as soon as it had crossed her thoughts, regarding it highly unlikely that the strict flamekeeper was even capable of mustering this level of compassion.

Nearly three weeks had passed by the time that word reached them of the fact that the commander would be returning to the capitol in under an hours, having been sighted already nearing Polis. Ontari had been in a training session together with Aden supervised by Titus. Her own mixed feelings on the news were mirrored visibly on the blonde boy's features and his blue eyes had turned troubled. Ontari had almost forgotten that all of them had taken an instant deep liking to Marie as well and she felt a small flash of annoyance cross her mind as jealousy flared up its angry head. Aside from Anya and Lexa, she had by far had the deepest connection to Marie and for some reason it annoyed her to see the others broadcast their grief much more openly than she allowed herself to. She had heard Aden discuss Marie's death with the younger children and she almost fled the nightbloods chambers in haste, unwilling to partake in said discussion or even just listening to it.

Titus had called together the rest of the conclave, telling them to wait for the commander's arrival at the base of the tower. Ontari was internally torn between wanting to get this over with and fearing the exact moment when even she could no longer deny that she would never see Marie again and had to acknowledge the younger girl's death.

Ontari's dark eyes lingered on the light wolf standing beside her. She had become better at sort of being able to sense the animal's mood and she could see how tense Risha stood beside her. She had grown comfortable with touching the wolf during the last weeks as she had noticed that the wolf seemed to really wish to be caressed occasionally and she reached out now too, letting her fingers card through the wolf's grey surprisingly soft fur.

She could hear a slight murmur travelling through the other children gathered in front of her and her frown darkened a fraction further, preparing herself mentally for the heavy blow Ontari was already expecting her heart to experience at finally seeing the commander and general return without Marie with them.

Ontari tightened her fingers slightly in the wolf's fur when she noticed Risha beginning to wag her tail in anticipation. She did not know what reaction to expect from the wolf when it realized that its human was gone. Maybe the wolf would even return to nature altogether instead, preferring to live in the woods without Marie there.

"How is that possible?" Ontari heard Boo's slightly high-pitched voice ask, filled with clear astonishment instead of the grief she had expected. For some reason Boo had cared just the slightest bit more for Marie than the others had.

Ontari finally looked up, steeling herself mentally once again and her eyes widened in pure disbelief at the sight. She blinked a few times in astonishment, fearing that her mind might be playing tricks on her and showing her what she simply wished to see instead of the bitter and painful reality.

Marie was sitting in front of Anya on the general's hazelnut horse, looking as healthy as ever and smiling brightly at them, even waving at the group of the conclave with twinkling grey eyes. The girl had visibly acquired a rather strong tan during their time at the Boat People, but Ontari had no doubt that it in fact was Marie with Anya and not some other unfamiliar blonde girl instead.

Ontari let go of Risha when the wolf suddenly made a jump forward, breaking through the line of the conclave and running over to the small group which had just arrived in front of the tower.

Some citizens from Polis had also gathered around the tower to welcome their commander and Ontari internally mused for a moment if word had actually spread about the reason for the commander's travel at all. But the surprise which was almost palpable between the conclave was not mirrored on any of their faces, so Ontari was relatively sure that no one had been told beside them.

The general's horse let out an almost panicked neigh at Risha's fast approach and Anya frantically tried to calm her horse, while Marie loudly tried to get the wolf to back down for now.

Ontari needed another second before her senses returned to her and she left the other nightblood children behind, following the wolf and trying to get a grip on the animal, so that Marie and Anya could dismount safely. Her thoughts were running wildly through her mind though, the most pressing question of course just how it was possible for Marie to be here at all. Had the Boat People been able to offer some sort of miracle cure to the younger girl? Somehow Ontari doubted that though if even the Skykru healers had not been able to supply Marie with something how should the Boat People have been able to do so. From Wanheda's words Ontari had understood that Marie's sickness could only end in death and there was no real cure available at all. But she could see the younger girl clearly with her own eyes and it was also obvious that Marie was physically doing much better as well. How was that possible?

Ontari momentarily forgot all the questions coursing loudly through her mind when Anya had managed to calm her mount down and she was suddenly almost assaulted by Marie, being pulled into an enthusiastic hug. It took her barely the flash of a second to reciprocate the hug, letting her own arms wind themselves around Marie's smaller frame and Ontari felt her lips tug into an honest huge smile. Marie was alive and with that thought and physical proof she tightened her arms just slightly around the other girl's body. She was there and that was all that mattered for now.

Chapter 263

"Do you think Ontari will have been really sad?" Marie asked, speaking out loud the thought which had bugged her mind for some time now. It had hurt her pretty deeply that Ontari had fought with her before they had left Polis and had not given her the chance to really speak her goodbyes with the older girl.

They had continued to travel back towards Polis much slower than she had expected, but she was delighted of course. Anya and Lexa still let her have time to play with them in the afternoons, making break for the day long before the sun would set. They had all even played tag with her again and without her having to convince them to either.

Anya blinked for a second, wondering at what Marie was even aiming at.

She was currently sharing her horse with their daughter and they would be reaching the gates to Polis in under an hour and she was internally occupied with planning what all needed to happen during the next few days. Lexa and she had agreed that they wanted to hold the adoption ceremony as soon as possible. It was not just important to Marie only any longer, but to the both of them too. She would also need to take back up training with her unit and of course with Ontari and Marie. She knew that the flamekeepers would have upheld Ontari's training, but she wanted the Ice Nation nightblood girl to learn different things than they found of utmost importance. The girl had more than proven herself skilled in fighting techniques, but she was still lacking other qualities.

"I mean, do you think she had grieved for me?" Marie repeated her question in other words, voice soft and tinted with hesitation as if she were afraid of a negative answer.

Anya snorted under her breath at the clearly twisted views of the blonde child. It would not have even crossed her mind to doubt that fact. The way in which Ontari had outright refused to acknowledge that Marie was facing her death in the impending future before they had left Polis had been proof enough of that, not included all the times the Ice Nation girl had risked her own life to save Marie's. She had actually been worried about Ontari's reaction when they were to return to the capitol without Marie. These worries had of course fortunately now become null. Marie was alive and healthy again and they would try everything in their might to keep it that way.

"She undoubtedly will still be grieving" Anya retorted in a decisive tone. Ontari and the other nightbloods together with whomever else had been privy to the information regarding the child's declining health and the reason for the commander's sudden departure from the capitol would surely be nonplussed to see the girl return healthier than before.

Marie's expression of hesitation turned into sadness and regret "I had not meant to make her feel bad…" her words trailed off, clearly forlorn.

Anya tightened her arms reassuringly around the child's frame, bringing her closer to her chest. Marie had still continued to occasionally drop little apologies to them during the last days, clearly feeling guilty for having caused them pain. But all of them were aware that what had transpired wasn't by any means the child's fault or could have even been caused by her. Lexa and she were continuously trying to make Marie believe that they were not holding her responsible in any way for it, but it was obvious that they had not had that much success with it yet.

"…or any of you" Marie added in an unhappy whispered tone and her features pulled into a cloudy grimace.

Anya sighed under her breath, banding a silent glance with Lexa. She wasn't sure if the brunette woman had been able to catch their daughter's low words, but judging from the commander's troubled expression she in fact had.

"Marie, what has happened has not been your fault in any way" Anya repeated the words for what now felt like the hundredth time already during the last days and she tried hard to keep her tone kind and not show the slight annoyance which was building inside of her mind at the child's clear stubbornness to believe their words "You have not chosen to nearly die and we do not want you to feel responsible for it. There is nothing for you to feel guilty about".

Marie made a slight noise of agreement, letting her gaze travel ahead of them and not speaking up again.

Anya's lips thinned visibly and she opened her mouth to try to convince the girl again, but the commander shaking her head next to them silenced her before she could reprimand their daughter. She could only hope that Lexa was correct in her assumption that Marie would finally understand them with time on her own.

Marie straightened in the saddle in front of Anya as soon as the outskirt of Polis got into clear view ahead of them.

"What am I to say to the others of how I got healthy again?" Marie spoke up again after a few minutes of silence while Polis got closer and closer to them with every passing moment.

It was Lexa who answered their daughter this time "That the Boat People had been able to help you". Anya and Lexa had discussed about the matter together a few nights ago. They had decided that the only one who would be told the truth would be Titus, but no one else. It was unfortunate that Ontari had already heard about the fact that Skykru had not been able to help Marie, but they were not overly worried that Ontari would question their word.

Marie frowned slightly "And how would they have done that?" she continued to question. She did not know just how much the others might press her and she knew that she was not really creative in coming up with lies. She was not feeling really comfortable with the concept of having to lie at all, but if she had to, then she wanted to know enough to be able to lie convincingly.

Lexa bandied another glance with Anya. They had also thought hard about this question. "We do not want Ontari to know about your talent" Lexa retorted, not really asking the question "She will certainly not ask you what they did for you specifically. Just tell her that the Boat People helped you and if she has further questions, she can ask me or Anya". She didn't think that Ontari would even care to really question what had happened. If that was being the case though, they would face the problem when it presented itself.

Marie nodded with a slight frown, not at all convinced that this would work out. She still thought it would actually be better if Ontari just knew about her talent. She could use it much more freely around Anya and Lexa then, too. But they had both cautioned her rather sharply and repeatedly on the fact that they both did not wish for her to use her talent too frequently, but only in dire emergencies.

As soon as they crossed the gates to the capitol, citizens began to gather around the streets, wanting to welcome their beloved leader back into their midst. Marie smiled shyly, burrowing herself a little closer back against Anya. The continuously growing crowd was freaking her out slightly and she could feel her breathing becoming a little uneven while her eyes scanned the crowd for potential dangers.

She felt some of the tension drain from her frame again, when they finally neared the tower and she spotted the conclave standing at one entrance of it, gathered together in a small group.

Marie smiled brightly at them, trying to block out the surge of guilt at seeing their obvious disbelief. She frowned for a second, failing to locate Ontari at first, before she spotted the older girl in the back of the group. Her smile brightened even further when the dark-haired girl finally looked up and noticed her presence with Anya on the hazelnut horse.

She let out a slightly frightened squeal when Anya's horse began to show signs of wanting to baulk when Risha ran towards them. She had only seen once how a horse had baulked and a rider had been thrown down, nearly trampled by his own horse in the process. Her smile had frozen completely and her grey eyes widened in fear.

Marie called out to Risha, trying to command the wolf to move back. They had sort of tried to begin training the animal previously in that regard, but had not made that much progress yet and it showed now. Her calls were all in vain and only Ontari was able to hold the wolf back physically.

Marie breathed out a sigh of relief as soon as her feet touched the ground finally and she immediately separated from Anya, almost running towards Ontari and launching herself at the older girl.

"I am so glad to see you again" she breathed out with shining grey eyes, looking up at Ontari with a kind and content smile once they separated after a few silent moments, with Anya hovering behind them.

"You are here" Ontari retorted, dark eyes still showing her clear surprise and puzzlement at that fact "You are really here".

Marie nodded in agreement, smile widening a fraction "And the best, I am healthy again" she proclaimed to the older girl, low enough that not everyone around them would be able to overhear her words.

Anya's lips thinned slightly, sensing that Marie might say something she should not to Ontari soon and even less so out in the open like they were now. So, she quickly steered both girls back towards the tower, needing to watch her steps as to not fall over Risha. The wolf was running wildly around Marie, clearly trying to somehow express her own joy at being reunited with her human again.

Marie's expression turned slightly sheepish when she noticed Anya's mute warning stare resting on herself for long moments. Her attention was diverted quickly enough when they reached the rest of the conclave and she smiled brightly in greeting at the other children.

"I got soooo much to tell to you" she addressed Boo enthusiastically, turning to the younger boy with a toothy smile "…".

"And you can do so at a later point" Anya jumped in, giving the girl a slight push towards the entrance of the tower. It was already rather late in the day and there would time for the children to reconcile tomorrow after they had all settled down and rested for the night.

Marie pouted a little at the woman, giving her the best attempt at an innocent look in the hopes of swaying Anya's mind. She wanted to speak to the nightblood children now and she felt almost filled to bursting with all the things which she wanted to tell them about.

Lexa followed behind them, letting her gaze travel over her nightblood proteges slowly. The children all looked to be alright on first glance and she knew that their expressions would have been anything but happy if they had returned without Marie, it was more than obvious just how relieved they all were about seeing the blonde girl again.

Internally Lexa was reminded of the fact that she still wished to at least initiate the change of the rules of the conclave which would determine her successor. Seeing the remaining nightblood children now, reasonably happy and healthy, Lexa felt resolve on that harden. She had previously thought that she should not try to push for too many changes at once. But no one could predict just how long her reign would still last. She knew that forcing Marie's adoption would surely only be met with resistance from Titus, but she would refuse to listen to his contradictions. She still wished to see so much things implemented, having gotten way too many ideas on how to make the lives of her people better, so that they could thrive to built a lasting peace in an advancing society. She did not wish for her people to have to fear for their survival on a daily basis. She wanted them to have more than mere survival. Lexa was aware of the fact that it was likely that she would not succeed in implementing even half of all which she dreamed off, but she would make sure that Marie at least would live her life to her fullest.

Marie felt Risha constantly roam around her legs in the elevator as they waited for the contraption to carry them to the top of the tower.

Ontari had hung back in front of the elevator for a moment, unsure if she was expected to remain with the conclave or not. The hint of a blush had settled onto her cheeks at Anya's not impressed look and she had quickly stepped inside the small room and close to Marie. She still found it hard to understand how Marie could even be there at all.

Marie smiled at Ontari "I hope you see the ocean once too. It was so cool swimming in the open water and there were fish too and …".

Ontari tried to listen closely to all that Marie had to narrate about her adventures at the Boat People. It sounded as if the girl had been well through most of their stay there. But it could also be that Marie was just leaving out the time where she still had been sick. Her head quickly swam with all the information Marie was almost bombarding her with. It was obvious that Marie had greatly enjoyed her time from the capitol though and Ontari did not even try to do more than make a few noises of agreement here and there. Marie did not seem at all discouraged by Ontari's lack of participation in their conversation and enthusiastically kept on filling the older girl in to all that she had missed.

Anya mutely watched their daughter's antics with amusement dancing through her brown eyes. It was more than refreshing to be able to see the blonde child so lively again.

"Where are we gonna sleep tonight?" Marie suddenly interrupted her narration, grey eyes turning expectantly towards Lexa and Anya, gaze switching back and forth between both women.

"Where do you want to sleep, little star?" Lexa asked the child good naturedly. They had moved into the commander's quarters by now and Marie had settled down on the couch, Risha had placed her muzzle onto the child's thighs and Marie let her fingers gently glide through her silky fur.

Marie did not need longer than a second to quickly retort that she wished to stay in the commander's quarters and Lexa merely inclined her head in agreement, seeing no problem in indulging the child in this.

At this confirmation, Marie stripped out of her coat and unlaced her boats, letting them drop to the floor next to the couch and crossing her legs under herself, sitting more comfortably on the couch. She took back up her narration with barely any pause, telling Ontari all about the few times she had gone out onto the sea with Lexa and Anya to fish and had made them set the fish free again after observing them for a moment.

Ontari snorted under her breath with a raised brow when Marie told her about her allergic reaction to the shellfish. She could almost vividly imagine just how panicky the commander and the general would have reacted to this happening.

"…and you know what is best?" Marie suddenly interrupted her narration of all which she had done and seen, grey eyes shining with utmost joy.

Ontari blinked at the younger girl for a second and a slight scowl settled onto her features, having absolutely no idea at what Marie was hinting at all.

"I will gonna be Anya's and Lexa's daughter officially soon" Marie exclaimed excitedly, wiggling on the couch to Risha's clear dismay.

Ontari frowned at this piece of information, being caught off guard by it. She knew that a commander never had had a family before. But she of course also knew that Marie had been calling both Trikru women as a mother for some time already. She still wondered how the reactions to this happening would be like. She highly doubted that the flamekeeper would be too happy about it either. "I am happy for you" she awkwardly tried to react to the younger girl's proclamation. She was thankfully saved from having to say more by Alira's arrival to the commander's quarters.

The older woman had of course been informed of their arrival back in the tower and had also heard that Marie had returned as well. She had immediately tasked a younger handmaid to go to the market and fetch the honey cakes the blonde child seemed to love so much. She had also known of Marie's disease and had spoken her goodbyes to the girl weeks ago. The joy at hearing that Marie miraculously had survived against at all odds was even greater now.

Marie seemed deeply touched by the small gesture of having ordered the honey cakes and the handmaid personally welcomed her back into the capitol with a kind smile on her features.

Marie stood up from the couch quickly and hugged the handmaid as well. Alira had been kindly to her right from the start and she knew just how often the woman had provided her with honey or small treats which she liked so much.

Marie's smile was still bright and her grey eyes shone with happiness as she stepped back from the handmaid again. Internally Marie mused that she really hoped that everything would just stay calm and peaceful for a few weeks at least. She had now everything she had dreamed off. She would soon officially have a loving family again. She had friends. She had Risha. And most importantly she had found her place and her home with her moms here in Polis.

"I never thought to find a home with you" Marie said cryptically to Anya, stepping over to the general, who had been occupied with emptying some of their bags from the travels.

Anya's slight grimace of annoyance at finding many more shells inside of their bags than they had agreed on Marie packing, immediately was replaced with a loving expression. She would have never believed this turn of events to be possible either and yet she would not exchange it for anything else.

"You are always going to have a home here now, little star" Lexa reassured the girl in a soft tone, appearing in front of her and placing a tender kiss on her forehead, before Marie smiled brighter and enveloped the commander in another hug.

"Do you wish for a bath to be prepared?" Alira asked, having distributed the plates for dinner on the table in the meantime.

"Yay!" Marie exclaimed joyfully at the prospect of a real hot bath. The Boat People did not seem to think all that much of the habit of a hot bath during summer, preferring the ocean instead.

Lexa chuckled slightly while Anya snorted under her breath. Both well aware that they were going to spoil their daughter rotten and both not really finding anything wrong with that either.

Chapter 264

The next days passed by in a blur as they slowly worked out a routine.

Lexa was swept up with all the duties which had piled up during her absence. As much as Titus had tried to keep everything covered, there was still much which needed Lexa's immediate attention. She still kept her promise to Marie and made sure to spend time with the girl in private daily. She had also taken back up training with the conclave on a daily basis as well and Marie now joined the other children at this time.

Anya herself was not doing much better than Lexa was, being the head of a small troop and tasked with a lot of military duties, training Ontari and Marie and planning the adoption ceremony with Lexa, the general had her hands more than full.

As good as Marie's mood had been at their arrival in the capitol, as quickly the child had suddenly seemed to have turned moody.

Marie had still been animatedly telling Ontari all about which had happened at the Boat People after she had enjoyed a bath, where she in fact had bugged the older girl as long as until Ontari had agreed to sit next to the bath tub, so that Marie was able to continue her seemingly endless narration. Lexa and Anya had watched their daughter handle the Ice Nation nightblood with open amusement. It was plainly obvious that Ontari was not that interested in hearing just how many times Marie had swum in the ocean or other details the blonde child did not seem to run out of any time soon. But Ontari did obviously not wish to silence Marie and instead just occasionally inclined her head or made a little noise of recognition, signifying that she was still listening.

But as soon as Anya had proclaimed that it was time to recline for the night and leave Lexa in peace, Marie's mood had visibly plummeted. The girl had tried to argue with Anya, telling the general that she wanted for them to stay within the commander's quarters. But Lexa and Anya had already agreed beforehand that it would be best for Marie, Ontari and Anya to move back into their original sleeping quarters and Anya was resigned to the fact that they would be met with at least some level of resistance from the girl. She hoped that Marie was feeling stable enough now that her nightmares would have declined to a manageable level. If the girl would fail to find restful sleep, then they would have to consider other sleeping arrangements, but she was set on at least trying it out for a few nights.

Lexa had tried her hardest not to let her resolve to adhere to their decision break when Marie turned her huge grey eyes on her and she could have sworn that the girl was close to bursting into tears. But where she felt herself waver and repeated her offer to Marie that the child could always come to her, no matter the time or the reason, Anya had little visible sympathy for their daughter and sent the girl out of the commander's quarters with a decisive growl.

Ontari had watched the scene in utter silence, dark eyes hefted onto the floor, not wishing to be pulled into the ongoing argument. She still found it astonishing how well Marie was able to manipulate the commander and she was absolutely sure that the young Trikru woman would have indulged the blonde child if Anya had not insisted on her original order.

Much to Anya's frustration, Marie had adamantly refused to go to sleep and stayed awake for hours after being told to go to bed. She had contemplated on asking the girl to join her in her own bed, but had decided against it in the end. Marie was no toddler after all and she should somehow be able to sleep alone. Risha had of course followed them into their quarters and had joined Marie in her bed. Anya had watched the girl for hours petting the wolf non-stop instead of going to sleep. She did count it as a very minor victory though that the girl stayed within their quarters and did not go back the commander's quarters.

During the following day Marie's mood was rather uncertain, too. The girl was overjoyed at the fact that they joined Lexa for breakfast and that she was allowed to go to the nightbloods' training session as well. But the girl turned visibly sad when Anya left them to go and inquire about the warriors of her unit.

Lexa watched the girl as closely as possible during the next days. Marie seemed only really happy when she was surrounded by herself and Anya. The girl did not seek out too much physical contact outside of their quarters, but as soon as they stepped inside, the child seemed to gravitate towards them, until she sat between them on the couch in the commander's quarters.

When Lexa had heard from Anya about how badly Marie had slept – and it had continued for the next nights in the same fashion – she had convinced the general that they would need to change their arrangements again. She agreed with Anya that letting Ontari reside within her quarters permanently was not a feasible solution. She had also spoken with Titus and Ontari herself about it. The Ice Nation nightblood did not care all that much for having to move in with the rest of the conclave, but the girl was actually older already than most nightblood children ever grew to before the next conclave had taken place. So, Lexa had decided that it would be the most sensible solution to allow Ontari to inhibit a room on her own. The girl could learn a few more responsibilities with that too. Anya agreed that her older charge should be fine in a room on her own, she had after all not insisted on Lexa or even Tris to always sleep with her in a room either.

Lexa was slightly confused as to why Marie had not once sought out her private quarters in the nights so far and she felt that something was holding the girl back, but she could not pinpoint where the problem might be. It would be irrelevant once Anya and Marie moved back in with her. She had just observed a few handmaidens setting up a room for Ontari. All the quarters on the top of the tower were in use, so she had decided that the Ice Nation nightblood would best be housed in the floor directly beneath them. That way Ontari would still be close by and under constant guard as protection.

So far, she had not been able to bring up the matter of the adoption with Titus. She had wanted to, but the timing had never seemed right. Lexa knew well enough that she could not put it off for much longer though.

Anya had insisted that they would have Leilani brought from TonDC to Polis for the markings. The old woman had already done Marie's other tattoo and she had also done one for Anya herself before. Lexa had sent out a rider to summon the woman a few days ago and was expecting her back in the next few days. She hoped that the journey would not be too much of a strain for the old woman. Marie had not asked after the adoption so far, but Lexa highly doubted that the girl could have forgotten about it already.

Marie was currently at the stables accompanied by Ontari and Anya had just joined Lexa in the commander's quarters. Handmaiden were bustling around them, adding the general's and Marie's belongings to the big room under Lexa's guidance.

"Have you told her yet?" Lexa asked the general just as the woman had entered the commander's quarters.

Anya rolled her eyes – she could not really understand why Lexa had asked her to keep it as a surprise to their daughter that they would move back into the commander's quarter – before she assured the younger woman "I have not. Her mood was already falling at the prospect of having to go to bed soon." She watched the commander order for a smaller table to be set up for Marie and how it was quickly stocked with all the girl would need to either write, study or do some drawing at it. She shook her head slightly "Do you not think that you are overdoing it?" she questioned with a raised brow and her voice was tinted with criticism.

Lexa's lips thinned visibly at the open jab and she decisively shook her head "Marie will surely not train the whole day. She needs some other ways of entertainment too" she reasoned easily, not willing to budge even a little. She could have thought of more things than a few art supplies. She had already asked one of the vendors of Polis who she knew designed games for children – although they were more rarely bought – to send her a collection of his crafts. She had also organised for a number of books more suited for Marie's age to be brought up to her quarters. A craftsman was expected to bring another shelf for Marie's things and she had asked him to give it a colourful painting too.

The routine would surely change again now that Anya and Marie would be staying with Lexa. But so far, they had all eaten breakfast together – Ontari included – in the commander's quarters. Afterwards Lexa took Marie and Ontari down to the meadow on which she trained the nightblood children – seeing their visibly thinned out group still pained Lexa deeply – after which Ontari and Marie were collected by Anya. Anya continued her own lessons with her two charges until midday and they had so far eaten lunch together out in the city. Ontari joined the other nightblood children afterwards while Marie either stayed with Anya to watch her train her unit, visit the stables or go into the tower to sit in on meetings with Lexa. After that Marie usually returned to the commander's quarters and she had begun her studies of the journal of the first commander again in that time; Titus had thankfully not insisted on her having to read it down in the temple any longer. Lexa usually joined her some time before dinner and they would spend the time until dinner was served alone, mostly curled up with Lexa reading a book to Marie. Dinner was eaten together in the commander's quarters again and Marie would immediately after wish to get on the couch with both Lexa and Anya around her, preferably for Lexa to resume reading the book to her.

They were able to hear Ontari and Marie near the commander's quarters before the two girls were in sight. Marie was giggling about something and Ontari looked almost affronted for some reason, but both girls visibly sobered when they noticed that something was obviously going on in the commander's quarters.

Marie frowned, her brows creasing together in obvious confusion; the handmaidens had not yet finished completely with organising everything. Her eyes widened a little once she recognized some of her own clothes being folded into a new smaller wardrobe which had been added to one wall of the big room. Hope visibly shone within her grey eyes as she looked over at the two women, her gaze switched between Lexa and Anya for long silent moment and her voice was definitely tinted with a mixture of joy and hope "We are moving back in, are we not?" excitement filtered into her tone too.

Lexa inclined her head in agreement "Yes, Anya and you will reside with me permanently" she explained with a slight smile tilting the corners of her lips upwards.

Marie squealed in a high-pitched tone, jumping in place in utter excitement and she quickly bounced over to Lexa and Anya, throwing her arms around them and hugging each woman for a moment. Once she pulled back though, her expression had darkened a little "But what about Ontari?" she asked with a raised brow and her lips were pressed into a slight scowl.

Anya snorted under her breath "Ontari will have her own room from now on".

Marie's scowl remained in place "She won't stay here?" she questioned, clearly not impressed with that aspect of their new arrangements. She wanted all of them to be together and Ontari was part of their family in her eyes.

Lexa shook her head "Ontari cannot sleep on the couch forever, Marie, and she is old enough to get the privilege of her own room" she tried to reason with the blonde child, but her green eyes also held a small warning as they drifted over to the Ice Nation nightblood. They were extending a privilege and a sign of trust towards the girl by allowing her a single room and she expected Ontari to act accordingly, but she was satisfied enough when the dark-haired girl slightly inclined her head in mute acknowledgement.

Marie pouted slightly, not entirely convinced yet that Ontari could not just stay in the commander's quarters too. What if the older girl actually wanted to stay here, rather than being alone? Marie herself would not want to have to be alone through the night. She backed off totally from Lexa and Anya, stepping back over to Ontari. She looked up at the older girl, grey eyes scrutinizing and head tilted to the side "Do you actually wanna be alone?" she asked in a soft tone.

Ontari blinked down at the younger girl, stunned silent for a moment as she was totally caught off guard by Marie's deep compassion and thoughtfulness. She did not take it for granted at all to be asked for her opinion on the matter. She had not minded having to sleep on the couch in the commander's quarters before, but in all honesty the thought of having a room just to herself had a certain exiting appeal to it and she would not recline it. Ontari nodded her head in agreement "I am totally fine with having a room for myself" she reassured the younger girl, giving her a kind smile.

Marie kept on scrutinizing Ontari for another moment, before she nodded her head as well and the almost blinding smile returned to her features as she turned back around to Lexa and Anya "Thank you, thank you, thank you" she chanted joyfully, going back to them, to hug both of them again.

Anya slightly rolled her eyes at the girl's overly dramatic antics, but the smile tugging at her own lips belied her feigned annoyance.

"And you have not even seen what I have all ordered for you" Lexa addressed the girl. Her green eyes shone gently as she led the girl over to the smaller table just for her and the colourful shelf, filled now with a few books and a few toys as well.

Marie's grey eyes widened visibly as she took in the things which were obviously meant for her. She had never possessed more than one book at a time on the Ark and her mother had always exchanged it for another after some time. She knew that books were also extremely valuable on the earth as well. Most of the books from the old world had been destroyed and with most people not able to read at all, getting your hands on an intact book was not easy at all, so she knew that Lexa had gone through some effort to be able to present her with this.

"That is all for me?" she exclaimed chirpily, grey eyes still scanning over all the things in wonder and she smiled brightly when she noticed the art supplies. She hoped that she could still ask Clarke to teach her some drawing techniques though, the older girl was really talented and she was sure that she could learn much from her.

Lexa inclined her head in agreement and she had crouched down by now to be on the same eyelevel as Marie and she was nearly knocked over when Marie abruptly turned around and launched herself at the commander.

"Thank you sooooooo much" Marie said, hugging the woman closer "Love you, Mommy!" she added a little too loudly.

Lexa winced a little at the girl's over excited raised tone, but her expression remained gentle "You are more than welcome, little star" she assured the girl easily.

Alira interrupted their moment only shortly later, bringing in dinner. Marie still retained her smile through the complete dinner. She did not seem to notice either how Anya kept on shooting her slightly dark gazes, as she continued to sneak little bits of her dinner to Risha, much to the wolf's obvious pleasure.

After dinner was over, Anya brought Ontari into the girl's new quarters, giving her a few instructions as to how she expected her to behave. The girl could from now on chose herself if she wished to eat breakfast and dinner with them together, with the conclave or on her own. Ontari had nodded along through everything. Her quarters also contained a small private bathroom, so she could find everything which she needed. The rooms and the corridor were guarded frequently, but she knew that it was not really to keep her watched, but rather to keep her protected.

Anya returned to the commander's quarters some time later. She felt assured that Ontari would be fine on her own, although she had also told the girl that she would be welcome to seek them out at any time if needed. Just because Ontari was years older than Marie, did not necessarily have to mean that the girl could not just wish for company or have something she wanted to address immediately.

Marie smiled at Anya when she saw the general enter the commander's quarters. She corrected herself internally, it was "their" quarters now and her smile widened a little more, before it declined again and she looked up at Lexa – having been leaned against the woman on the couch, feet tugged under herself – grey eyes questioning "What about the adoption?". She did not think that the commander or the general had forgotten, but she knew how busy both women had been directly after their return to the capitol.

"We are only waiting for Leilani to arrive at the capitol" Lexa assured the girl quickly, not wanting the child to get the idea that they might have doubts about the adoption because of the wait.

"Oh" Marie exclaimed and she frowned a little "She made my other tattoo, right?" she answered. It astounded her how long ago that already felt now.

Anya inclined her head as she sat down on Marie's other side "She will mark each of us with a tattoo to mark our union as a family" she explained "It is part of the adoption ceremony in Trikru".

"What kind of tattoo are we going to get?" Marie asked curiously, grey eyes flicking back and forth between both women.

"We will all get the same design" Lexa answered "Something which will symbolise all three of us individually in a union." She had not yet thought too much about the particular design, but she still had some time to come up with something. She also thought about asking Clarke to help, but she was not sure yet if she wanted to ask the blonde woman for something, bringing them back into closer interactions.

Marie nodded in understanding, trying to picture how such a tattoo might look like. Her gaze was hefted onto the flames dancing in front of them in the hearth and she barely noticed how her eyelids began to drop and she dosed off.

Anya slightly snorted under her breath "She outright refused to sleep the last nights and now she is asleep immediately" she rolled her eyes.

When Lexa saw the older woman reach out to Marie, she shook her head "Let her dose until we retire" and she only reached out to a thin blanket on the side of the couch and gently covered Marie's sleeping for with it, bending down and placing a light kiss on the girl's forehead. She could barely wait for Leilani to arrive at the capitol and make their bond official. She winced a little at the thought that she still needed to notify Titus, but she would do so in the morning, there would be no more procrastination.

Chapter 265

It was obvious already after the first evening after their change in sleeping arrangements, that Marie absolutely loved their new arrangements and was ecstatic about the fact that she and Anya would truly remain within the commander's quarters.

"We are not going to move out again immediately, right?" Marie checked; head tilted slightly sideways looking up at Anya with her big grey eyes expectantly. Currently they were waiting for Lexa to finish getting ready in the bathroom for the day to start breakfast together.

"No, we are not" Anya assured the blonde child in a calm tone, trying to keep her patience with the girl together. Marie had not asked the question only once before, but already at least five times while she had assisted the girl in braiding her hair. Her blonde hair had visibly already lengthened again after it had been cut short by Nia long weeks ago, it was still nowhere near as long as it had been, but progress in growth was definitely visible.

"So, we are going to keep on living here?" Marie repeated basically the same question, just in a rephrased version, her tone clearly indicated how important the answer still was to her. In her head she had added a "forever" to the question as she did not want to think about having to move into a single room like Ontari had done last night.

Anya breathed out heavily through her nose, jaw clenched together in rising annoyance. She truly had no idea what could have gotten into the girl through the night. Marie had happily cuddled awkwardly with both of them at once last night before falling asleep only shortly later still in this rather seemingly uncomfortable position and the girl had not even twitched once through the whole night.

"Yes, we will" Anya finally answered a long moment later, breathing in deeply and breathing out slowly afterwards, trying to calm herself.

Marie's grey eyes narrowed slightly at the general. She did interpret Anya's annoyance in another way and thought that the woman might not be truly honest with her. She did not know what could be wrong though, maybe Anya was just not in the best mood this morning, but Marie could not truly quit the small voice in her head, wondering just what she might have done wrong to cause it.

Lexa came out of the bathroom just in time to catch Marie answering the same question yet again in different words, her brows furrowed when she noticed the unmistakable annoyance within Anya's expression though.

"Marie, one last time, we are going to stay within these quarters for now" Anya retorted while her voice took on a definite hard edge.

Marie's lips thinned slightly "You keep on saying "nor now"" she argued back and it did not seem as if the general's warning glare did even have the slightest impact on the blonde child "So, it will not be forever then" she added almost defiantly.

Anya's brown eyes blazed with simmering anger, she could definitely not understand what had all of a sudden gotten into the girl to make her this stubborn, and the child had rarely displayed such stubbornness before.

The commander stepped away from the bathroom's door quickly and over to Marie, placing her hands gently on the girl's shoulders as to not startle her needlessly "What is this really about, little star?" she inquired in a kind tone, but kept her green eyes taxing the girl calmly.

Marie squirmed under the scrutinizing stare for a moment, before the defiance melted from her features, being replaced with worries and insecurities, before the words almost bubbled from her mouth "What if you get tired of me suddenly? Will I need to sleep alone then, too? Or what if you do not…".

Lexa tightened her hands around the girl's shoulders, giving them a slight squeeze to silence her worried rant. Her gaze had taken on an assuring gentleness while she crouched down in front of the girl, bringing them on the same eye-level "Marie, you worry for nothing. I will not suddenly change my mind and kick you out of my quarters. You will surely one day wish to have your own room…" Lexa held up a hand to silence Marie wanting to protest "…but as long as you want to sleep here, you will always be welcomed, no matter what you might have done to anger me".

Marie's hesitant answering smile looked almost sheepish, while Anya rolled her eyes at the girl's antics.

To the general it made little sense as to why the girl kept on being so insecure. They had assured her more than enough times to last a lifetime from her point of view that they were not suddenly going to change their mind. She had truly never met someone who had needed as much reassurance about being wanted as Marie obviously needed. Anya internally hoped that the adoption would finally put a stop the child constantly doubting her place with them, there was nothing more binding than this ceremony after all.

Marie bit at her lips uncertain as to what to say now, feeling both women watching her at the moment.

Lexa sensed how uncomfortable being scrutinized made Marie feel, so she gave the girl's shoulders another squeeze, before she casually stood up again and sat down so that they could finally begin with their breakfast.

Just in that moment, Alira returned to the commander's quarters as well, waiting to braid the woman's brown locks into their usual braided style.

"A group from TonDC has just arrived at within the tower" the handmaid relayed while she carefully combed out the young commander's damp long hair.

Marie's ears immediately perked up and the uncertainty left her features, being replaced with unmistakable excitement "So, we can have the ceremony?" she asked in a hopeful tone, grey flitting back and forth between Lexa and Anya at an almost alarming speed, trying to look for the women's reactions.

Lexa's face showed gentle amusement at the child's clearly overly excited antics and she nodded her head, trying to keep the grimace from her features as she still needed to tell Titus.

Marie smiled brightly at the, grey eye shining with joy. She would officially once again have a family after today.

As if summoned by the commander's thoughts Titus asked for entrance into their rooms only a moment later.

Lexa quickly sent Marie to Ontari's room – the older girl had not shown up yet to breakfast and there was more than enough left on their table to share with the nightblood and she honestly did not want Marie to be present for the upcoming discussion – Marie visibly frowned at the abrupt order but complied with it once she noticed the underlying strictness in the woman's green-eyed gaze.

The flamekeeper watched the blonde girl gather a few things in almost awkward silence, he knew the commander well enough to guess for her intentions as to why she was sending her overly beloved protégé from their rooms, he was still slightly sore to not have even been informed of the as it seemed now permanent change of sleeping arrangements.

Lexa waited until Marie had left the commander's quarters and even waited a few more moments until she could hear the girl's soft footfalls falling silent as she walked away from the door, before she spoke up "Later today Anya and I will perform an official adoption ceremony with Marie". Lexa proclaimed her words in a decisive tone, green eyes blazing provocatively at her former teacher.

Titus blinked a few times, obviously for once stunned into absolute silence and it was if there were gears turning visibly within his mind trying to process the words his ears had just heard. When the meaning fully registered into his mind, his features visibly darkened. He might have found some appreciation for the blonde Skykru girl, as hard as he may have fought against that happening, but having the girl being adopted by the commander was just unthinkable. He did not care for what the general was planning to do, for all it meant to him the Trikru woman could go ahead and adopt all of the orphans living within Polis.

"You surely cannot mean to do that, Lexa" he finally breathed out, nostrils flared and teeth clenched together in seething anger.

Lexa quirked a brow at the man, she was not asking for his opinion on the matter after all, but merely informing him of her own plans. "I very well do" she retorted in a hard tone "and it is not up for discussion either. Marie does not pose any threat to the flame or the next conclave. She does not bleed black…" she paused for a second and unmistakable pain flashed over features, clouding her eyes for a moment "…we have nearly lost her forever and I do not care for any arguments you might have against this ceremony happening, because it will happen. This is something that I will do for myself, my duty as the commander will not be compromised by it at all".

Titus shook his head in utter disbelief "No commander before had a family and with good reason. To be commander is to be…".

"…alone" Lexa cut into her former teacher's words, hearing the phrase for what felt to her like the millionth time, but her expression did not falter, she would not let him sway her mind now "Just because if was never done before, does not make it impossible. There will never be progress, if we stick to how something was always done. I will not change my mind. The adoption ceremony will take place tonight. I am done having to hide my feelings for the girl" she added the last part with a little venom.

Titus huffed out a clearly frustrated puff of air, the vein on his forehead visibly throbbed to his heartbeat, showing his rising annoyance with the young leader.

Anya watched the flamekeeper's obvious turmoil with an immense amount of internal amusement and her lips had curled into a smirk, unable to contain all of her amusement. She knew that Titus actually did not have any power about Lexa's decision and so he would not be able to prohibit the ceremony from being done.

Titus jaw was clenched tightly and it seemed as if he was grinding his teeth in mute frustration, recognizing by the unyielding look within the young woman's green eyes that all the arguments he could think of as to why this should not be happening would just fall on deaf ears.

Marie left the commander's quarters with a slight frown; it had not happened often yet that she was sent from the room when there was a conversation about to happen to which she was not allowed to remain present. She could only remember it happening before as Abby had wanted to speak with the two women about her condition.

She firmly shoved all doubts as to why she had been sent from her mind though, instead focusing on her joy at the prospect of the ceremony happening now in only a few hours of time. The delighted smile had returned to her features by the time that she reached Ontari's new room and she quickly knocked on the door, barely waiting for a second before she already pushed it open.

"I bring breakfast" Marie immediately proclaimed in a chirpy tone, smiling at Ontari.

The older girl had sat up quickly in the bed and tried to get down from it, nearly stumbling as the furs had tangled around her legs during sleep. A dagger rested in her hand, ready to pounce on anyone who would attack her. Ontari lowered the dagger immediately once her still slightly tired mind registered that it was only Marie standing in front of her and no actual threat.

Marie giggled at Ontari's expression and placed the small tray with food on the table, before she turned back around and inspected the room for a moment. It was much smaller than the quarters they had shared before with Anya. But it contained all the necessities and even had a small balcony.

"Did you sleep well?" Marie asked looking back at Ontari and letting herself fall dramatically on the bed.

Ontari watched the younger girl with a slight frown and only nodded her head in agreement. She had obviously slept too well actually and had overslept, but it did not seem as if Marie had been sent to her to scold her for her tardiness, but she guessed that the commander and general were busy at the moment and their morning training would just be delayed by some time.

"You know what is happening today finally?" Marie had rolled over and was now lying on her stomach, head probed up by her hands and she looked up with shining eyes.

Ontari sighed slightly under her breath, not yet in the mood for guessing games, so she just shook her head.

Marie pouted visibly "You have not even tried" she said in a slightly whiny tone, giving the older girl an innocent look.

Ontari rolled her eyes "Fine" she breathed out "Are we going on a hunt?" she indulged the younger girl, sitting down at the table and immediately starting with breakfast.

Marie shook her head "Try again!" she prompted chirpily, excitement returning to her features.

Ontari rolled her eyes again with a huff.

Thankfully Marie's patience seemed to have run out and she blurted out "Lexa and Anya are going to adopt me today!" voice slightly shrill and high.

Ontari needed a moment before she nodded her head, she had already heard that this was planned, but somehow, she had not been so sure that it would really come to pass. "You seem happy about that" she finally commented after a prolonged and definitely awkward silence, not that sure on how to respond.

Marie's blinding smile had visibly faltered in the silence and the girl seemed brooding "You don't think it is a good idea, do you?" she questioned, doubt colouring her tone strongly.

Silence settled over them again for a moment, while Ontari carefully contemplated her next words. She knew after all just how important all of this was to the blonde girl. "It is uncommon to happen" she reasoned carefully "I cannot remember ever having seen such a ceremony being done and definitely not with the commander involved".

Marie's mouth pulled into a frown "Do you think Lexa will get problems because of me?". She had not formulated that question to Anya or Lexa, fearing that they would not tell her the truth on the matter anyway.

Ontari looked indecisive for a moment "I really do not know, but I doubt it" she answered truthfully. The Trikru commander had managed to ally all the clans behind herself and unite them, somehow it almost seemed as if everything this woman set out to do would somehow work out.

Marie nodded after a moment, deciding to just hope for the best. She did want to call both of them her moms and it being real and official. As she thought about that and remembered that they were getting tattoos, another thought crossed her mind. She knew that on the Ark people who got married and in her mind this sort of was something similar, exchanged wedding bands as a sign of union. So, she now wondered if she could come up with something similar. She knew that actual rings would be impractical, but maybe a necklace or some other piece of jewellery could work. She did not know when the ceremony would take place today though, so she probably did not have that much time left to organise something. She quickly stood from the bed, already buzzing with excitement "You need to go down to the market with me, right now" she proclaimed loudly, looking at the older girl expectantly.

"I doubt that we should…" Ontari started to formulate a denial to the child's plea.

But Marie did not let her finish, shaking her head "Gustus will surely come with us" she reassured, although she did not really know if the burly guard would agree or not. She guessed that the man would, if she explained as to what she had planned.

In the end, Marie was correct.

Gustus fortunately was not on guard duty at the moment, but the man was visibly surprised to see Marie with a begrudging Ontari in tow, knocking on his door and he had to strain his ears to make out the rushed words of the girl asking him to accompany them to the market to organize some sort of gift for the commander and general.

Marie tried to discuss with Ontari on what she could get for Lexa and Anya. It was obvious pretty quickly to Gustus that the Ice Nation nightblood neither really understood the need for any kind of gifts nor had she ever needed to think of one before and seemed even more clueless on what to advise the younger girl on than Marie herself was.

Gustus had to hold back a few comments at Marie's almost comical ideas. The child seemed to have gotten it stuck in her mind that she on the one hand did want to get some sort of jewellery which they all could wear in addition to their markings and on the other hand the girl seemed steadfast to present her future moms with actual practical gifts, as if she needed to thank them for adopting her. When he truly heard the girl reason to Ontari that this was her intention in a way, he stopped both girls, in the middle of the market and pulled Marie off to the side to speak to her.

"Marie, you know that you do not need to come up with some absurd gift to show off your talent and prove your worth" he intoned in a kind voice, looking down at the blonde child intently.

Marie looked up at the girl man with a conflict raging within her grey eyes. A part of her knew that Gustus was right and Anya and Lexa did not need her to proof anything to them, but another part of her wanted to show them that they would not need to regret going through with the ceremony later.

"We shall go and search for the jewellery you have in mind" Gustus proclaimed after a moment of silence, he doubted that the girl would just agree to his input.

Marie nodded her head in agreement, but the look in her eyes clearly portrayed that she would not let go of the ideas of gift altogether, but maybe she could do it at another time. Her attention was quickly caught back by the market around themselves. It was still relatively early in the morning and most vendors still readied their stalls for their sale during the day.

The first stall which Gustus knew to sell jewellery seemed to have been specialised to craft jewellery with various gemstones, but it mostly sold necklaces and none of them particularly caught Marie's attention. The man leading the stall also could not offer to her to craft a specific design for her, so they moved on.

Marie had more luck at the second stall. The young man working there really took a great effort by sitting down with the girl and trying to sketch the design she had described to him. Marie had wanted to sort of have a smaller version of her original tattoo, as it already contained symbols for all of them. A tree, with a sword for Anya, the commander's symbol for Lexa and star in the leaves of the tree for Marie herself.

Marie excitedly watched the man carefully trying to ingrain her wished design into three identical bracelets. In the end, the man unfortunately had to see that he would not be able to make a recognizable tree with all the details. So, the bracelets were now ingrained with the intricate patterns of Lexa's and Anya's Trikru tribal tattoos, which were wound around a sword and stars were around that. Marie was more than satisfied with the result and she profusely thanked the man, barely containing her excitement to be able to present the bracelets to Anya and Lexa, really hoping that the two women would like them and agree to wear them too. She had actually not wasted too much thought on the question of what happened if they did not wish to wear them at all and she refused to do so now.

"I can barely wait" Marie joined Ontari and Gustus who had patiently waited for her with a blinding smile and her steps visibly bounced with excess energy. Soon, she would once again have a real family.

Hi guys,

This is as far as I have come with writing; due to personal reasons this story will sadly be put on hold now. I don't know when or if I will continue it. I hope that you have enjoyed the journey with me up to this point. To the reader who has been my greatest support through the last few months, thank you so much, without you I would have abandoned this way sooner. I hope that you will find whatever you are looking for.

There may come a point in the future where I feel that I can continue Skaifaya, but right now I am unable to do so. A great thanks to all of you and I am incredibly sorry for probably leaving this unfinished, this had never been my intention.

Chapter 266

Clarke had returned to the capitol a few days ago now with the commander and the rest of the group who had been at the Boat People's place. Getting back into her routine as a healer in Polis was easy, but it still felt different in a way. Previously she had been convinced that there would be a chance for her and Lexa to reconcile, which had justified her continued stay in the capitol. But now that this was not going to happen, Clarke was not sure any longer if her time to return to her own people had not finally come.

She had spoken to her mother over the radio and Abby had told her that Jaha had miraculously returned to Arkadia a few weeks ago, her mother seemed to be worried about him though. She had also been told that Octavia had visited Arkadia with Lincoln and was expecting a baby. Clarke had not really been surprised by that piece of news, the dark-haired girl had been madly in love with the warrior and she wished them all the best in the world.

Her mother hand sounded less than pleased about the fact that quiet a large number of the original 100 had by now chosen to leave Arkadia. As the tensions between the clans had lessened and more and more clans had been swayed into at least begrudgingly trusting the newest addition to the coalition, trade had begun to be established between Arkadia and a few of the clans. While none of the grounders so far had chosen to remain in Arkadia, a part of the delinquents had chosen to leave Arkadia and live with the grounders instead, most of them had integrated into Trikru, but her mother had told her that around ten of them were now living in other clans as well. Clarke could not really begrudge them of their decision, she had not been with her own people for months now after all and she was not yet sure if returning to them would be temporary or could turn into moving back permanently.

Monty had told her that during their absence from Polis there had been word from the king of Azgeda. Roan had obviously been true to his promise and had his warriors search through their lands for the remaining people from Farm Station who had still been kept prisoner by the last fanatic followers of his mother. Roan's message had proclaimed that around fifty Sky people had been found in Ice Nation lands and were currently being escorted back to Arkadia.

Clarke could only begin to imagine through what kind of hell these people had gone through since their landing on earth and in what constitution they would be. She guessed that her mother and Jackson would highly appreciate it, if she would be there in Arkadia when these survivors arrived and she also sensed that these group could pose a real danger to the peace they had worked out. She still remembered how openly hostile Pike and his supporters had been towards Lexa and actually every grounder for that matter. It was more than likely that these people would even be extremer in their opinion of the grounders. She knew enough about politics by now to have understood that it just took a little minor instance of affront between the clans to destroy their trust and possibly cause another tension which could lead them directly into the next war, which was something she absolutely had to prevent. She did not wish for Lexa to have to worry about another possible war so soon, she wanted for Marie and her moms to have as long of a peaceful time as possible, all of them more than deserved it.

Her mother had of course also subtly tried to ask again if she would finally return to Arkadia, once Clarke had told her that she was not in a relationship with the commander any longer.

Clarke sighed under her breath and continued to fold together her clothes. She had asked to have a short audience with the commander, wanting to inform the brunette personally that she was planning to leave the capitol. She had already told the healers who she worked with, that she would be gone for an undefined time again and she hoped that word would not have reached the commander yet about that. Clarke did not know if the young leader was keeping taps of her like that or not, but she regarded it as possible at least.

A knock at her door, made Clarke pause for a moment "Enter" she called out loudly. She had grown used to the way around the tower and how to act around the people who worker here.

She was surprised when it was not a handmaid or a young servant who entered, but the commander herself.

Lexa remained standing beside the door "You wished to speak…" she started in a neutral tone, but paused when her green-eyed gaze fell onto the bed and she recognized that the blonde was obviously packing her things "You are leaving" she assessed calmly.

Clarke nodded her head in agreement "Yes, I had just wanted to inform you personally" she explained a little lamely.

Lexa's brows raised slightly in honest confusion "You do not need my permission or approval to leave the capitol, Clarke" she retorted calmly. She would have felt a little better for Marie's sake if the blonde remained within the capitol. The woman knew if Marie's healing powers and no other healer was privy to that information yet, but she would not ask Clarke to remain here either.

Clarke nodded again "I was not going to ask for that, but merely informing you" she exclaimed a little hotly and surprising herself with the reaction. She was probably tenser about returning to her people than she had cared to admit to herself just yet. She had not been back to Arkadia on her own choice since the Mountain and she had felt at home in Polis, she feared that she would not find that ever in Arkadia.

Lexa's brows furrowed together and slight alarm passed through her green eyes for a moment. She knew this reaction from Clarke, the blonde tended to lash out at the slightest provocation when she was already tense and she was fairly certain that it had to do with her return to Arkadia. "You will always be welcome to return to the capitol, Clarke" she tried to reassure the blonde in a kind tone and she meant every word of it.

Clarke's lips tilted into a smile "Thank you, Lexa" she retorted, truly thankful for the reminder of the offer. Her heart felt heavier somehow now as she gazed at the brunette in a moment of silence. She still felt deeply for the commander and she doubted that the depths or the way of her feelings would ever change, they would in a way forever be connected to each other. "So…" she began with a sigh "…this is goodbye for now" she stepped closer to the commander, blue eyes swimming with melancholia.

Lexa stretched out her arm towards the blonde, offering it for a goodbye in real warrior fashion, clasping forearms as they gazed into each other's eyes for long seconds "May we meet again" she said solemnly, truly hoping that they would meet again in the future.

Clarke swallowed forcefully and inclined her head "May we meet again" she echoed and she gave the commander's forearm a squeeze, before she let go and gave the brunette a smile. She watched the commander leave her room in silence, before she sighed once again and turned back towards the bed, to finish packing up her things.

Marie was still brimming with absolute excitement when Gustus brought her and Ontari back into the tower. She hoped that Lexa and Anya had not already wondered where they had been these past hours, having the bracelets done had taken much longer than she had thought possible and she also hoped that the ceremony would happen immediately, she did not wish to wait any longer.

Gustus had learned from guards on their way up the tower that the commander was currently in the throne room and he brought both girls to it, taking back up his place at the leader's site.

Lexa had been in the middle of a meeting with the ambassadors and she had noticed already that Marie and Ontari had not been at the training session and she had guessed that the girls had just joined Anya in her training of her own unit, but the general had returned to the throne room without the girls as well.

She had not been able to call off the meeting though and Gustus had also not been seen, so she assumed that he would be with Marie and Ontari. She had still worried in the back of her mind, but she was fairly certain that Gustus would have a good reason to be with the two girls and would have long sent word if something was wrong.

Lexa's eyes narrowed though when she truly looked at both girls. Ontari wore a look of what she could only describe as guilt and a heavy conscience, while Marie was obviously fidgety and nervous beside the older nightblood girl.

The commander held up her hand, stopping the Plain Riders ambassador midsentence in his report about the status of his clan, stood from her throne quickly and motioned Marie to the balcony.

The blonde girl looked definitely nervous now as she trudged over to the balcony, lower lip caught between her front teeth and grey eyes flitting between the commander and the ground at her feet.

Lexa waited until Marie had passed through the door, before she closed it behind them quickly, giving them a moment of privacy. Her green eyes quickly scanned the child over for any new injuries, with Marie she had almost come to expect disaster lurking behind every new corner for their daughter. Lexa internally mused why they even let the girl out of their sight at all anymore, the child would surely be saver under constant surveillance.

"Are you alright, little star?" she questioned the girl in an urgent tone, lightly tilting her chin upwards so that she could look into her grey eyes, while her second hand squeezed the child's shoulder.

Marie nodded her head in honest confusion and she felt slightly guilty for obviously having caused the woman to worry after her again.

Lexa looked up, when the door was opened behind Marie and Anya joined them on the balcony. The general also appeared worried, obviously having had similar thoughts to her own.

"Where have you been?" Anya asked, voice definitely several degrees sharper than Lexa's had been and her brown eyes carried an unyielding hardness. The child did not appear physically harmed after all.

Marie's mouth opened and closed a few times without an actual sound coming out and she felt the bracelets weigh heavily in the pocket of her coat. She had originally wanted give them to the bracelets after the ceremony, but she could probably present the two women with them now.

"I got something for you" Marie revealed, tone slightly low, feeling her nerves again. It was entirely possible after all that they would not like the bracelets at all. She fiddled with the bracelets in her pocket, looking between both of them, mouth drawn into a slight frown.

Lexa and Anya bandied a confused look at the girl's antics, both clueless what their daughter was referring to.

Marie bit at her lips for a moment, before she finally took the bracelets from her pocket and slowly revealed them to the two women, looking between them unsurely. When none of them reacted immediately, she tried to explain "I know you said we would have matching markings after the ceremony. But you know…" she stopped for a moment, beginning to nervously play around with the bracelets in her fingers "…on the Ark couples exchanged wedding bands as a sign of the bond and I thought we could do something similar. And I know that rings would be impractical to wear at training and I don't know if you would even wear jewellery at all. But I thought it would be nice and I hope that you like them. I have come up with the design together with the man at the stall and I don't know if you like them and he was not able to do exactly the design I wanted, but look…" Marie rambled on, barely taking a second to breathe between her many words. "… they are now ingrained with the intricate patterns of both of your Trikru tribal tattoos and the sword stand for you" she looked over at Anya "… and the commander's symbol and the stars represent me. All united in one design. I hope you like them. It is alright if you don't…" Marie's expression clearly showed how important it was to her though that both women would approve of her design.

Lexa's green eyes clearly showed her appreciation for the child's gesture and she quickly reassured their daughter "They are perfect, little star". She would also gladly wear this piece of jewellery if it meant so much to Marie. Wearing jewellery was not really customary among their people, but she saw absolutely no reason to deny the bracelet.

Marie smiled slightly at that and her grey eyes flitted over to the general, waiting with a baited breath for the woman's reaction.

Anya was deeply touched by the girl's gesture as well and her expression had turned loving and open, while she reached out and took one of the bracelets from the child's fingers and brought it closer to her face for closer inspection. The design had obviously been done with great care of the details. Once she had inspected it, she handed it back over to Marie.

The child immediately appeared crushed by that and she lowered her gaze with a deep frown.

"You have chosen a really thoughtful design" Anya complimented the girl, forcing her chin back up with an insistent finger and she kept her expression open and gentle "We can use the same design for the markings" she suggested with a slight smile.

"You really like it?" Marie checked with both of them unsurely.

Both women nodded their heads in mute agreement and Marie immediately smiled brightly and almost jumped into the space between them, throwing one arm around either of their waists and giving both of them a weird one-armed hug.

"When are we going to get the markings?" Marie asked excitedly once she stepped away from them again.

"We shall begin as soon as the meeting is over" Lexa answered easily. The design the girl had come up with would require for the marking to be relatively big, so getting them inked into their skin would undoubtedly take some time. She squeezed the girl's shoulder one more time, before she stepped back over to the door, wanting to end the meeting as soon as possible.

The clans seemed to have done reasonably well during her absence and no knew tensions had risen which would require her immediate attention.

Marie still smiled brightly and minutely leaned against Anya, before the general motioned her to return into the throne room behind the commander as well. She tried to curb her smile her joyful expression at least a little once they were inside again, aware of all the eyes watching them curiously at the moment. But it was nearly impossible not to smile so bright that she thought her cheeks would surely hurt the next day. She just felt so unbelievably happy at finally officially being Anya's and Lexa's daughter.

Thankfully, she still remembered that the previous marking had barely hurt, although she had been rather afraid that it would. So, Marie now did not worry about the actual marking process too much.

She had asked Anya before how a normal adoption ceremony looked like. But the general had told her that such a ceremony was rarely done. It simply was not needed as the grounders did not value labels and names in such a way that it would matter.

So, in a way Marie thought that Lexa and Anya would mostly go through with the ritual for her sake, but she would not question that right now either.

During the rest of the meeting, Marie barely could sit still at all. Her whole mind seemed to buzz and she just wanted to run around and move.

Anya had placed a hand on her constantly fidgeting legs halfway through the wait and thankfully the general had not appeared truly annoyed by her inability to just wait quietly right now.

Marie did not even attempt to listen to the different ambassadors speaking one after the other in front of the commander. She had listened to the beginning words of one of them and had registered that they seemed report on the status of their own clans, but their speeches were not able to catch her attention for longer than a few seconds at the moment and Marie impatiently waited for the last ambassador to speak, which just happened to be Monty.

She did try to listen to his words though and she frowned slightly when she heard that people who had been kept as prisoners from Farm Station in Azgeda lands were being escorted to Arkadia. Marie briefly wondered if she would know any of them. She had been born in this station after all and although she had not had too much contact with many people, it was still possible that she could know some of the survivors.

Thinking of Farm Station, allowed Marie's thoughts to drift to Maura. She had not seen her friend in several months now and she really wanted to see her again. During their time at the boat people, Marie had loved to be able to play with Aria and now she truly missed Maura. She hoped that there soon would a possibility for the other girl to visit Polis or them to travel to Arkadia.

Marie exhaled a loud sigh once Lexa finally called an end to the meeting and the ambassadors quickly filed out of the throne room one by one. "Can we start now?" she asked quickly, immediately jumping up from her chair in an excited manner.

Anya slightly snorted under her breath at the girl's clear impatience, although she had to admit that she was also growing impatient by now.

Lexa nodded her head with the hint of a smile tilting the corners of her lips upwards and she asked Ontari who was intending to join the rest of the conclave to signal a guard on her way out to have Leilani and the two others send to their quarters.

They had not spoken about how big they wanted the design for their markings to be, so Lexa had in preparation of a larger design, summoned two other people who were well versed in marking the skin. Or having Leilani mark all three of them could have easily taken a day for each of them.

"We can already return to our quarters" Lexa proposed and stood from her throne.

"What kind of ceremony is there going to be?" Marie asked on the way from the throne room, only noticing now that they had never explained it to her.

Anya shook her head in the negative "We are already bound to each other as first and second. Getting the markings done will suffice in that case" she explained.

Marie mulled the woman's words over in her mind for a while. She actually was not sure right now if she should be disappointed about the lack of a sort of ceremony or festive, but she guessed Anya was right and they already had been bonded to each other in a way.

Leilani approved of the design for the markings too and they had decided together to get it done on their left arms and it would nearly span over the whole upper arm.

Three chairs had been placed around each other and Marie sat in the middle and Leilani would be the one to do her marking.

Marie quickly remembered why she had been tired during the last and only marking she had received. It did not hurt at all, but to her it rather felt soothing. She was holding Lexa's right hand with her own and the marking went over in silence, which only increased how tired Marie all of a sudden felt.

Lexa occasionally asked the girl if she was alright and she only stopped doing so, when she noticed how the girl's grey eyes were already beginning to fall close.

Anya had her eyes closed as well and only opened them again, when Marie suddenly spoke up.

"You will be my moms officially after that, right?" the girl checked looking between them.

Lexa and Anya both nodded in agreement. "We will put your bracelets on then too" the commander added in a gentle tone, which only made Marie smile brightly again.

The tiredness won out over the child sometime during the marking though and Marie dozed off, tattoo only halfway down.

"From her sleeping habits, I would say that we adopted a bear instead of a girl" Anya commented drily into the silence.

Lexa smirked slightly in amusement, but she vehemently denied Anya to wake their daughter "The markings will still take a few hours. Let her sleep through them if possible".

Anya rolled her eyes at her former second and the hint of a grimace settled onto her features. Now that they would officially both be considered a mother to Marie; they would surely need to work out exactly which rules they would want their daughter to adhere to. But she shooed that thought away for the moment, those were worries for tomorrow.

Chapter 267

A few days had passed now after their adoption ceremony and they had been anything but easy. For some reason the ceremony and the finality of the adoption had turned Marie clingier and the child was visibly against being left alone even for five minutes, going as far as not wanting to go to the bathroom alone. It had been obvious right from the first morning after the ceremony that Anya's patience with the blonde girl's antics was limited; the general had more than enough duties and the child's constant need for physical closeness was unsettling to the woman. Lexa was coping with the girl's behaviour better than Anya was, offering the child as much of her time as she could and spending it with her alone in their quarters. But both women were pretty busy, having been gone from the capitol for several weeks during Marie's sickness had made the work literally pile up.

Now that the girl was physically declared as healthy again, Anya insisted that she needed to get back into training as soon as possible. Ontari had trained together with the rest of the conclave during their absence, but the general was not truly satisfied with what the flamekeepers had made her train. It made little sense in her mind to allow the Ice Nation nightblood to remain within her comfort zone, always fighting in training with the weapons she had already mastered. She knew that Ontari could only make progress, if she worked on the things she was not fully experienced in yet. Both girls still had huge deficiencies in their theoretical knowledge and so could be instructed together in that fields.

"Don't you want to go and see the foal?" Anya questioned Marie with a slightly raised brow. She had just finished the first training session between Ontari and Marie. The nightblood girl was expected to join the rest of the conclave now, while Anya had planned to work with her unit. During their absence from the capitol, more warriors from different clans had volunteered to solely fight for the commander, regardless of their origin and Anya now had to assess who of them she could actually need. She had already spoken to Lexa about the idea to form several divisions of elitist soldiers just bound to the commander. No previous commander had reigned long enough for something like that to have been established, but it seemed that Lexa was deeply beloved by her people, so both of them expected more volunteers to show up in the capitol as the time passed.

Marie frowned slightly, wiping at her sweaty forehead with the sleeve of her shirt. Ontari had already left them and it did not appear as if Anya was planning to leave the training grounds. "You're not coming?" she asked in a quite insecure tone.

Anya's lips thinned visibly at her daughter "You are very much capable of visiting the stables on your own" she gave the girl a pointed look. She had enough of the child being glued to their sides constantly. She could not understand why Marie was so clingy now. She would have assumed that the adoption would finally drive it home to the child that her place with them was safe and final, frustratingly, the opposite seemed to be the case.

The child would not even have to go completely on her own, as Risha was resting next to the training fields and would surely trot behind her human as soon as Marie moved away. The wolf had been a constant shadow to Marie since their return to the capitol, as if the animal was afraid that her human could be leaving again if left alone.

Marie pouted at the general's sharp undertone. She honestly wanted to visit the stables again. She wanted to check how the foal had grown and how the horse with the broken leg was doing currently. But she was not blind and word had spread like wildfire through the capitol about the adoption ceremony between her, the general and the commander. Most people surprisingly enough seemed to accept her new connection to their leader with respect, but she was afraid of those who did not accept it. She knew all too well from her experience with the Ice queen that not everyone was favourable towards her. She had heard Titus cautioning Lexa about what might happen after the adoption after all and she sadly knew that the flamekeeper's words carried at least some truth.

But she had also heard Lexa and Anya argue about her just this morning. The general seemed fed up with her clinginess and Marie was afraid that the woman would grow even more distant, if she continued to push her. She did not want to be the reason for her mothers to argue with each other, she wanted all of them to be happy with each other.

So, Marie forced a decisive expression onto her features and straightened herself. "Okay" she intoned in a surer voice than she felt "Will you come and collect me for lunch?" she added in a softer tone.

Anya gave the girl an encouraging smile "Yes, I will come to the stables right after I finish here" she promised, internally relieved that their daughter finally agreed to do something on her own. The child did not need to know right now that there would be a pair of guards shadowing her from a safe distance, but the girl needed to feel secure enough in the capitol that she would move through it on her own. They did not want her to become reckless, but Marie was no toddler and needed to get more independent again.

As predicted, the wolf immediately got to her feet the very moment Marie turned from the training pits and fell into step directly next to her human. Anya gave the pair of guards who had been waiting on the corner of the streets a mute nod to follow the blonde child, before she turned her attention back to the training pits and let her eyes shift over the new potential members of the commander's unit. It was a mixture out of both genders and all clans as far as she could tell.

Marie moved through the streets of the capitol with fast strides, wanting to reach the stables as soon as possible. For some reason, she felt safer there than out in the open like this.

She frowned deeply when a man suddenly blocked her path and one of her hands went to the dagger fastened to her thigh for protection. She let it drop again when she noticed a small boy standing directly in front of the man and her expression turned questioning, mutely wondering what they could want from her.

The man noticed the pair of guards almost hurrying towards them now, so, he crouched down behind his son, making the situation appear less threatening. "My son wants to gift something to you" the man finally said after a moment of silence in a throaty tone.

"Oh" Marie breathed out in surprise and a shy smile settled onto her features as she turned her grey eyes solely onto the small boy in front of her. She judged the boy to be around Boo's age.

"For the comma'der's new child" the boy said in a rushed obviously excited tone and held out a band in his round fist, opening it finally directly in front of Marie's face.

Marie cautiously took the band from the boy, inspecting it carefully and she immediately recognized that it must be proposed to be used as a hair tie. It had a similar red hue to Lexa's long red sash and the commander's emblem had been stitched carefully into the centre of it.

"Thank you" she answered with a smile "It is beautiful" she added after a second, before she immediately tied it around a part of her hair. She would ask Lexa or Alira later if they somehow could integrate the new hair tie into her hairstyle in a way that the emblem would be on display as well.

The young boy smiled brightly at her when she immediately fastened the tie into her hair.

"Come on" the man began to gently urge his son away, now that he had given the commander's daughter his gift.

"Wait" Marie addressed the man, an idea flashing through her mind "Have you done the emblem?" she questioned in curious interest.

The man inclined his head in acknowledgement.

Marie smiled a little brighter "Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked excitedly. She knew that it would not be long now until she had officially been the commander's and Anya's second for a year and she wanted to present both women with personalized gifts for the special occasion. She guessed that she could easily gift a coat or shirt to Anya, but she wanted to gift Lexa with something else as the woman was mostly always dressed in the commander regalia.

The man seemed perplexed by the question, but he nodded his head in agreement "It is not that hard to learn" he assured the blonde girl in a kind tone.

Marie's expression was positively excited now "Where can I find you?" she questioned. She would probably need to at least tell Gustus or maybe Alira or Ontari. She knew that she needed to arrange for some form of payment and she did not own any money.

The man described to her where he lived with his family and he promised to keep silent about Marie going to visit him when she quickly told him that she wanted to prepare surprise gift for Lexa and Anya.

The little boy seemed thrilled with the concept of meeting her again too, asking her if she would be telling him some stories about her time in the sky.

Marie agreed easily, knowing that she would just need to be a little cautious about what she told them about Lexa, but she doubted that there could be any harm in telling them about the Ark. She was used now to people being fascinated with living in space after all.

She left in the direction of the stables with a renewed self-confidence. She was touched by being gifted something and welcomed like that. She knew that she would be a fool for thinking that everyone would welcome her like that, but she at least hoped that the majority of people were positive about her new role in their society.

Marie left Risha at the entrance to the stables, telling the wolf to wait for her there. The horses would probably still not react too well to the wolf's presence and she did not want to stress them unnecessarily. She could already see the stable master standing in the middle of the large stables, obviously instructing two new people wanting to work there.

She gave the man a nod in greeting, but did not stop to talk to him, instead she immediately went over to Skairasha, looking into the stall and spotting the foal standing next to its mother.

Skairasha came closer to the fence and Marie reached out to pet her enormous head gently in greeting, giggling slightly when the horse blew out a deep breath directly into her face, tickling her with it.

"Have you missed me?" she asked in a gentle tone, scratching alongside the mare's soft nose.

As if the horse had been able to understand her question, it seemed to nod its huge head, before it stopped moving again to enjoy the girl's caress.

Marie smiled at the horse and her smile turned into a laugh when she heard what she would classify as a complaining neigh from the other side of the row of stalls, where Anya's brown mare was looking at her.

"I'll come to you in a moment, no reason to be jealous" she called over her shoulder in a light tone. Marie remained at Skairasha's side for longer though, just as she wanted to turn away from the stall, the foal began to get interested in her presence as well. She tried to bend over the fence as far as she could, but the foal remained out of reach.

"I doubt you will have luck in touching it" the deep voice of the stable master startled Marie suddenly and she had to catch herself before she lost her balance and fell over the fence altogether.

Marie's disappointed frown turned into a slight pout. She wanted to be the first one to have contact to the foal, Lexa had promised that it would be hers after all. So, it sounded logical to her that she needed to be the one to form a bond to the young animal.

"How is the broken leg healing?" she inquired curiously, grey eyes falling down the row of stalls to the one which had held the injured mutated horse before they had left Polis.

The stable master nodded his head "It has mostly healed as far as we can tell. The horse should not have any complications from it" he relayed his assessment.

Marie smiled at that piece of information "Can I ride it soon?" she asked with growing excitement. Lexa and Anya both had cautioned her already that such a wild horse would definitely not be easy to be ridden like the horses she had been assigned before, but Marie was confident that she could handle the horse.

"I don't know if you can" the stable master retorted drily "But it can be ridden soon" he added after a moment.

Marie's expression faltered at the dry wit and she turned away from the man, walking over to the general's hazelnut mare instead and finally greeting the horse as well, much to its obvious pleasure.

She stayed with the mare for long moments, before she gave it one final pat and walked to the end of the row of stalls and was immediately greeted by the dark horse, all three eyes were trained on her.

The dark horse had trampled around a little restlessly at the sound of Marie's approaching footsteps, but now it was calm again and Marie climbed onto the fence, so that she could reach out and offered her hand palm upwards to sniff at to the animal.

"You've been good" she acknowledged in a whispered tone, letting her fingers softly caress over its velvety nose "Will you be good too when I try to ride you?" Marie asked curiously, gazing deeply into its dark eyes.

The horse of course could not give her any answer, but Marie continued to gently caress it for a few moments. She spotted a few carrots in a bucket in front of another stall and quickly retrieved a large one, breaking it into pieces and offering one to the horse.

Marie giggled under her breath when the horse ate the first piece directly out of her palm, its lips tickling on her palm. She continued to feed the horse in silence, unbeknown to her being watched by the stable master.

The man was once again surprised with how compliant the mutated horse behaved with the blonde girl. None of his men would have attempted to feed the beast like that and he was fairly positive that the horse would have just bitten them if they had attempted the same. He could not pinpoint what was so special about the blonde child, but something clearly was and the horses were sensing it.

He had heard about the adoption between her, the general and the commander too of course, but he had been anything but surprised by the news. He had seen both women around the child and the love between them was almost palpable. He had already instructed his two new apprentices that the commander's daughter was always allowed in the stables at all times. Security had been increased after Ontari had killed one of his apprentices and abducted the commander's second months ago and it had not been lowered since.

Once she had fed the complete carrot to the horse, Marie stepped back from the stall and returned to Skairasha. She glanced over her shoulder; the stable master was busy showing something to his apprentices. Marie knew that the commander's mare would not hurt her and she still wanted to touch the foal. So, without much further contemplation, she climbed over the fence to their stall.

Marie remained pressed against the fence and offered both her hands to Skairasha, the horse's ears had laid back at her intrusion and she was suddenly unsure if her move had truly been wise.

Thankfully, Skairasha seemed to decided that she was indeed no threat and Marie breathed out a relieved bout of breath. She remained in a corner though, understanding that the mare would probably not react too well if she moved closer to the foal.

Marie decided on trying to wait patiently instead and actually sat down cross-legged in a corner of the stall cushioned by the straw on the ground of it.

Her patience paid off long moments later, when the foal curiously came closer to her.

Marie's hands twitched at her sides, wanting to reach out and touch the young animal, but she sensed that she would only shoo it away. So, she tried to stretch her patience out longer instead.

She was rewarded when the foal stood directly in front of her, sniffing at her face. The giggles the move elicited from Marie did not shoo the animal way, so, she assumed it as safe to reach out now.

"Hi" she greeted the young animal in an extremely soft tone and her smile turned bright, when the foal remained in front of her and allowed her to touch it.

The stable master seemed openly surprised, when Anya came to the stables a long time later to collect her daughter and they found her still sitting in Skairasha's stall with the foal's head actually on the child's shoulder. The man had not noticed Marie climbing into the stall and had assumed that the girl had left without his notice, but Anya had found Risha waiting for Marie still.

The general remained standing in front of the stall for long silent moments, simply taking in the view in front of her. Both, Marie's and the foal's, eyes were closed and the child looked utterly at peace. Only the fact that her fingers were softly moving along the foal's neck indicated that the child was awake at all. She was glad that sending the child off alone had obviously worked out so well. As soon as Marie had left the training grounds, she had felt unsure about her decision, torn between wanting the girl to be confident on her own and making sure that the child was alright. But it was obvious now, that it had been the right decision.

Marie must have sensed being watched and her grey eyes opened a moment later, a shy smile settled onto her features at spotting Anya waiting for her and she slowly got to her feet, pressing a soft kiss between the foal's eyes in farewell, before she accepted one of Anya's hands to help her climb easier back over the fence.

"Did you have a good time?" Anya questioned the child in a kind tone. She had placed one hand on the girl's bony shoulder, guiding her out of the stables, noticing the new hair tie in the girl's hair with a slight frown of confusion.

"Yeah" Marie answered in an excited tone, telling the general quickly about meeting the little boy and his father. She carefully left out, that she would be meeting them again though, instead switching to how well the mutated horse was healing and how she had waited for the foal to approach her.

"You did well" Anya acknowledged in a tone laced with pride and gave the girl's shoulder a squeeze. She breathed easier now, knowing that nothing had happened. She knew that Marie would probably need a few more positive experiences like this to slowly diminish the dark ghosts of her past, but she was positive that the girl would heal with time.

Marie threw a smile over her shoulder at the general and she shily reached out towards the woman's hands on her shoulder, pulling it down and interlacing their fingers cautiously. She smiled bright with her grey eyes twinkling, when Anya allowed her to walk through Polis holding her hand like that.

Chapter 268

Marie followed Anya out of the stables with a slight skip to her steps and a smile on her features. She had to conceal her internal excitement about the gift she wanted to make for the general. She wanted to keep it as a surprise, but now that she was in Anya's company, she felt the excitement bubble in her mind. She had no idea how long her plan would need to be executed and she still needed to think of a gift fitting to Lexa. She wondered if maybe Ontari could have an idea, if Clarke would still have been in the capitol, she could have asked the blonde woman, but Clarke had left and returned to Arkadia.

Marie's smile lessened at the thought of Arkadia. Immediately, she had Maura in front of her internal eyes. She still spent time with the remaining nightbloods, but she was missing Nymo, she had been closest with the boy and although Ontari was great company, the older girl refused to engage in what she regarded as "childish prank". The time they had spent at the Boat People's oil rig had been so different from the more regulated daily life in Polis, that Marie now missed the opportunity to just spend time with playing and she knew that she would have a much greater time with Maura or Luna's daughter here.

She was aware of the fact that Anya and Lexa still tried to take as much time out of their daily duties as possible to spend it with her, but spending time with her moms was still largely different from spending time with friends.

Marie sighed slightly under her breath. She highly doubted that it would be possible for them to travel to Arkadia, so shortly after they had returned to the capitol.

"What is going through your mind?" Anya questioned the girl suddenly. She had watched the emotions quickly flicker over her daughter's face and she was still watching her closely, looking out for the little cues which gave Marie away, if the child attempted to lie.

Marie shrugged her shoulders with the hint of a frown, annoyed by the fact that the general was reading her so easily.

"You know well enough that shrugging is not an appropriate answer" Anya chided the girl in a kind tone "So, spill" she demanded a moment later.

"You'll think it stupid" Marie retorted with a slight whine to her voice. She highly doubted that the general would be understanding of her feelings. Anya was once again all about duty, training and lessons and Marie knew that she had to fulfil a certain role as the commander's daughter and her second as well, but she was still wishing for something more.

Anya narrowed her eyes at the girl. They were still outside of the tower, so she urged the girl back inside, further away from listening ears. "I want to know regardless" she addressed her daughter again just as they stepped inside of the elevator.

Marie sighed again "I think …" she began and paused for a moment, looking up at the woman with her grey eyes filled with sadness and longing "…I miss how it was at the Boat People…" she said and added as a whisper "…or before".

Anya frowned down at the girl, trying to decipher what exactly the girl could mean. It was obvious that she had spoken her true feelings and they seemed to be intense as well, but Anya did not understand them. "We can travel there again" she tried to appease the child with a promise.

Marie nodded, but her expression did not really light up at the concept. "Do you know when Monty will return?" she asked out of the blue. The boy had accompanied Clarke to Arkadia, to visit his friends and speak in person with Kane about news of the developments ongoing in the newest clan. Marie had written a letter to Maura and asked Monty to deliver it to her friend, hoping that the other girl would write her a reply as well and she was impatient to hear how her oldest friend was doing.

"In a few days" Anya answered in confusion. She knew that Marie had gotten to know the ambassador of Skykru when they had been sent down to earth from the Ark, but it had not seemed as if there had been a close connection between them and she could not remember if her daughter had spent any time with the ambassador.

Marie nodded in acknowledgement. She knew that there were no super important meetings scheduled as a few ambassadors had left the capitol to visit their loved ones in their original clans. Lexa had explained to her that she had tried to install a sort of pause in the clan meetings during times of peace to offer the ambassadors times to leave the capitol and not miss anything important. She guessed that Monty would have to return in time for the next meeting and she knew that it was at least a week or more until it was scheduled, she had forgotten the exact time.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Risha pushing her nose against her fingers as she had let her hands hang beside her sides. Marie smiled again as she let her fingers card through the wolf's soft fur.

"Hi Gustus" she greeted the burly man standing guard in front of the commander's quarters, indicating that Lexa most likely had already returned from the private lesson she had had scheduled with Aden and Ontari.

Gustus nodded his head in greeting at the young girl. The corners of his lips turned into the hint of a smile as well. The child appeared relatively confident how she stood beside Anya, Risha nearly glued to her knee, smiling at him kindly. He was relieved that the child was obviously very well recovering now from everything she had been put through.

"Mommy!" Marie almost squealed as she spotted Lexa sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, looking through some sort of reports.

Lexa's concentration was immediately broken by Marie's certainly loud appearance and she put down the report, already expecting for their daughter to race over to the couch and launch herself into her arms. Marie had been doing exactly that for the last few days since she had resumed her training with Anya.

Her prediction became true and Lexa quickly caught the girl, before Marie could hurt herself and she smiled gently at the girl, feeling her smaller arms wound around her torso.

Marie enthusiastically hugged the woman while she heard Anya follow inside of their quarters and close the door behind herself. She held on for long moments, breathing in Lexa's unique soothing scent and feeling the warmth of her body seep through her clothes, before she let go again and backed away slightly, still touching the woman.

Lexa gently brushed a blonde strand of hair from the girl's forehead, taking in a new bruise forming along the girl's jaw, probably curtsy to the training session in the morning, and noticing the unfamiliar hair tie woven in the girl's hair. "Did you have a good day, little star?" she asked the girl in a kind tone.

Marie slightly leaned into the gentle caress and she immediately launched into an excited narrative about her day.

Anya had sat down beside Lexa and Marie on the couch and attentively listened to the girl describing their training to her previous second, switching to the meeting with a little boy who had gifted the hair tie to Marie. She noted how the child stopped suddenly in her words there and quickly switched the topic to her time at the stables. She wondered what the girl was trying to keep to herself, but she doubted that it would be anything to warrant them to worry.

The journey back to Arkadia had taken Clarke and Monty a few days. They had agreed to travel with horses instead of asking Raven or someone else to collect them from the capitol with a rover. Monty was not really a practised rider, so he had agreed that it would be a good opportunity for him to practise a little. For once, they had not been in a hurry during their travel. There had been no war looming over their heads and both of them had finally had the opportunity to truly appreciate the beauty of the nature around them.

Monty was internally a little anxious to return to Arkadia, even though he knew that it would only been a visit and he could only imagine how it felt to Clarke to return. Kitara had thankfully chosen to accompany him and he was looking forward to being able to show to the girl he had grown to love just how the Ark looked like. He had told her so much about living in space already, but he knew that seeing the remains of the Ark in person was still different.

He had heard that Clarke and the commander had settled on going separate ways now and although they seemed to have parted in good ways, he doubted that truly leaving the capitol had been easy for his friend.

Monty knew that there would be no one waiting for him. His mother was dead and Jasper had been banned from the lands of the clans. He wondered for a moment if his previous best friend was even still alive somewhere or if he had died, alone and helpless like that. He did not really know what outcome he would prefer for Jasper.

He had briefly spoken to Bellamy through the radio and it seemed that the boy had finally made peace with his sister. Octavia had moved to TonDC with Lincoln and only occasionally was in Arkadia herself and he had been told that the girl was expecting her first child. Kitara had laughed at his utter puzzlement at the news. Somehow, in his mind all of them still were the juvenile criminals sent from the Ark to see if earth was survivable. Hearing now that Octavia was going to be a mother soon, somehow made all the changes more real.

Monty glanced over at Kitara, riding beside him. On the horizon, he could distinctly already made out the shape of the Ark and he knew they would be arriving soon. He internally wondered if he would ever have children himself, possibly with the girl next to him and he felt his stomach roll slightly in anticipation. Taking over the role as the ambassador had already felt too much of a burden and a heavy responsibility, but the possible thought of a child of his own made him nervous in another way.

"I thought it had been larger" Kitara spoke up with a slight frown as she could finally see what must be the Ark looming in front of them. Monty had told her just how many people had populated this thing made of metal while they had floated among the stars and she could not imagine how crowded living in such a small space had must been like for them. She was used to the wide spaces of the forest in Trikru and although Polis had become heavily populated as well, the city was huge and ran out into the forest around it as well.

Monty snorted slightly under his breath "This is only part of the Ark. It had been much larger. This is only the remainder of Alpha Station, but the complete Ark consisted of twelve stations" he explained once again. He knew that he had told Kitara this many times before.

Kitara's frown slightly deepened, trying to picture this thing in front of them several times larger, but she found it hard to conjure the image.

"Arkadia has really changed" Clarke commented from Monty's other side. It had been several months now that she had not been here and the last time, she had seen it had been when Anya had brought her here after her run in with the panther.

A few houses seemed to have been constructed surrounding the carcass of Alpha Station and fields had been pitched outside of the fence. Clarke was sure that the people from TonDC would have been of great help in the construction of the houses and the fields.

She steered her horse – a personal gift from Lexa – through the gate to Arkadia and she smiled when she spotted Bellamy standing alongside her mother and Kane waiting to welcome them and their entourage.

"Clarke" Abby immediately stepped forward once Clarke dismounted her horse and enveloped her daughter in a hug, after looking her over once. It was obvious that her daughter had fully integrated within the grounder culture and she was wearing grounder clothing and had her long hair braided out of her face.

Markus in the meantime greeted Monty and Kitara together with the few warriors which had accompanied them on their travels.

Lexa had sent a waggon with a few gifts, mostly food from other clans, a few weapons and tools, from the capitol and Monty officially handed those over to the leader of Skykru in his function as their ambassador.

"We have prepared a meal in the dining hall to welcome all of you" Markus thanked Monty for his gifts.

Their arrival had been noticed by other members of Skykru by now and a few people were filling out of the Ark.

A small group of children – the last ones which had been born in space – already came running towards them. Although all of them had already seen horses a few times now, the children especially were still enthralled by the animals.

Clarke smiled at them kindly. She knew that the horse Lexa had chosen for her was a friendly animal and she would not need to worry that there would be any problems. The horse seemed happy enough with the attention as well.

"How long are you going to stay?" Abby asked her daughter, as she let go of her and took a slight step back.

Clarke slightly shrugged her shoulders "For a while at least" she answered vaguely. Lexa had offered that she was always welcomed in the capitol, no matter the state of their relationship and the Boat People had been interested in her skills in healing as well. So, Clarke knew well enough that she had other options, but she would see how long she could stand being in Arkadia.

"I would hope so" Raven commented in a mock sharp tone, stepping up next to Abby and enveloping Clarke into a tight hug next "You have been gone too long" she said.

Clarke slung her arms around the brunette and answered her hug "I have missed you too, Raven" she answered with a smile.

"Of course, you have, who wouldn't miss my shining personality?" Raven remarked with a little snark to her tone, being softened again a little by her smile.

Clarke rolled her eyes at the mechanic. She had truly missed Raven the most and she had enjoyed the brief times in which she had reunited with the other girl in Polis and during the war against Ice Nation. The grounders all visibly had been confused by Raven's attitude and Clarke had been afraid that the mechanic could have caused an affront with the generals, but surprisingly enough the grounders had learned to just ignore Raven's sometimes weird antics and her sharp tongue. Clarke assumed though that Lexa must have given the order that the mechanic from Skykru was not to be harmed.

Clarke frowned slightly when she noticed Jaha standing with a small group of people around him at one side in front of the Ark. No one of them seemed to be speaking, but they all were looking intensely at one point ahead of them. Clarke could not identify at what they were staring and she slightly shook her head "What is going on with Jaha?" she questioned. Her mother had already told her that the man was acting weirdly since his return and that she was worried about him.

Abby's smile visibly lessened, while Raven looked shortly over to the group and rolled her eyes "He has turned completely loopy" the mechanic retorted "He is trying to distribute some weird "key"" she added.

"Key?" Clarke echoed in confusion, looking at her mother to see her nod in confirmation that this was exactly what she was so worried over.

"It's supposed to be the ultimate salvation" Raven explained in a sarcastic tone "the way to the city of light" she added

Clarke looked over alarmedly at one of the warriors from the capitol who has his eyes narrowed at Raven with a dangerous gleam. Internally, she wondered if the man could somehow know something about this city of light.

"Do you know something about the city of light?" Clarke carefully questioned the warrior.

The young man marked with an intricate tattoo in the style of Trikru carefully nodded his head as he answered "It is a myth. People have tried to look for it beyond the death zone. The commander will want to know about this though" the man had added the last part under his breath and Clarke could see a flicker of the old suspicion against her people flash through his dark eyes.

Clarke nodded her head in agreement, the last thing they needed was for Skykru to get into further trouble with the coalition, there was only so much Lexa could do for them and she knew how much the Trikru commander had already adapted their rules for the sake of Skykru.

Maura suddenly appeared among the group of the other children, looking between Clarke and Monty with a little smile "Do you have news about Marie?" she wanted to know excitedly.

Monty nodded his head at the younger girl "I in fact have a letter for you from her" he answered kindly, searching through one of his bags for the letter and handing it over to the clearly impatient girl.

"Thank you" Maura chirped happily, grabbing the letter from him and immediately turning on her heel, storming away back into the Ark quickly, probably wanting to read the letter in the privacy of the quarters she inhabited with her mother.

Chapter 269

Marie managed to get Ontari involved into her plans for the gifts to her mothers, so that the older nightblood girl helped her "disappear" for certain times of a day during which she visited the man who had gifted her with the hairband.

The older girl clearly did not understand, why this kind of gifts were so important to Marie all of a sudden, but Ontari had seen how excited the younger girl was about the prospect of presenting the general and the commander with personalized gifts, so she had agreed to help.

Marie enjoyed the time which she spent with the little family in the capitol while she worked on her gifts. During her first visit the little boy, whose name was Callum, introduced her to his mother and baby sister. She had learned that the little girl was just a few months old now and Callum rolled his eyes dramatically every time his sister began to cry. It was more than obvious that he was not that thrilled to have a sister now.

Marie found the little girl extremely cute though and she was deeply thrilled when Callum's mother offered during her third visit to the family, that she was welcome to hold the little girl if she wished. Marie had been immediately enthralled by the little girl, but what had truly been amusing had been Callum's reaction to Marie holding his sister and cooing at her. The young boy had rolled his eyes and sulked moodily, complaining that his sister was once again getting more attention.

Callum's father had insisted that she first needed to learn the different techniques of embroidery. Marie had not expected that there would be so much to learn and she was a little frustrated. She had wished to make quick progress with Anya's gift, but she had not even gotten started on it yet. But she had acquired a number of little wounds on her fingers, where she had slipped with the needle and instead of pushing it through the fabric she had been given to practise with, pushed it forcefully into her own fingers.

She was slowly getting better at it though, which was a good thing.

Lexa had begun to question her on the appearances of her wounds, knowing from Anya that they were most definitely not from training. Marie had no idea now how she had managed to lie to Anya about the sleeping aid she had taken in secrecy, when Lexa had questioned her, she had actually blurted out "Please stop questioning me, mommy, you're ruining the surprise". To Marie's great relief, the commander had only wanted to know if she was putting herself into danger with whatever she was preparing and when Marie had denied so convincingly, Lexa had not questioned her again on it.

"You truly think Anya and the commander do not know where you are going when you "disappear"?" Ontari asked in an almost amused tone, pulling Marie out of her thoughts. She was not blind and she had seen that guards were shadowing them unobtrusively; she was not sure if the younger girl had noticed them though.

Marie frowned at the nightblood with a slight pout "I hope not" she said and her pout turned into an almost accusative glare "Don't say that you've blabbed to Anya?!"

Ontari rolled her eyes, internally affronted that the girl would assume such "Of course, not" she retorted in a sharp tone, looking straight ahead and refusing to look back at the blond girl.

Marie frowned again, sighing under her breath "I am sorry for assuming" she said honestly. She hated when Ontari was angry with her.

Ontari nodded in acknowledgement, expression softening slightly. They had reached their destination "Have fun then" she said as a farewell.

"I am sure you could come al…" Marie tried to offer, but Ontari stopped her midsentence.

Ontari shook her head with a slight chuckle "No, no, Anya is waiting for me on the training pits".

"Okayy" Marie answered in a happy tone, turning her back on the older girl, knocking on the door once and entering without any kind of hesitation.

Ontari watched the younger girl disappear through the quickly closing door. Marie's blond hair had grown again, it was of course still a lot shorter than before it had been cut off by Nia. It was nice to be able to see Marie walk through the streets of Polis without searching for a threat at every corner. The younger girl had grown more comfortable here again and she knew that the adoption had been part of that.

Anya had insisted on holding up training session with her alone as well, claiming that the two of them needed to work much more on the trust between them than the general ever would need with Marie and Ontari knew that the Trikru woman was speaking true.

She had learned by now not to question Anya on her training methods. So, Ontari did not argue when the general greeted her with a bow in hand, leading her away from the training pits, telling her that they would make a short outing to hunt. Internally, Ontari actually assumed that the general wanted to leave the capitol for some time again. She had seen that Lexa and Anya both had been busy with their duties since their return.

"Where are Anya and Ontari?" Marie asked once she returned to their quarters. She was holding a little piece of fabric around her pointer finger.

"Another wound, little star" Lexa assessed with a critically raised brow, noticing the fabric the girl was holding immediately "Wash that wound out now" she ordered in a kind tone, pointing towards the bathroom. She tried to finish quickly with the report she had been reading, wanting her attention free for her daughter.

Risha, who had been lying at the commander's feet, stretched herself out, trotting behind her human. The wolf remained inside of the opened door to the bathroom, wagging her tail in anticipation.

Marie returned a moment later, drying off her hands on her pants, before she greeted Risha with a smile, kneeling down in front of the wolf, as the animal jumped around her for a short time, before the wolf jumped against her human's shoulders, bringing Marie to her back.

Lexa put the report to the side, when she heard the slight noise of Marie falling onto her back. She had worried for the flash of a second, but Marie's bright laughter nulled her worry immediately. She watched Marie squirm under the wolf for long moments, laughing freely, as the wolf licked along her face.

She was not surprised, when Marie immediately turned her attention towards herself, once Risha stopped her "attack".

Lexa leaned back on the couch, making room for Marie and she was not disappointed, when the young girl sat down close to her, leaning against her upper body immediately.

"When will I continue to learn about the flame?" Marie questioned out of the blue. Since her return to the capitol, she had not received a single lesson on the topic any longer and she was wondering if the adoption might have changed something about her status.

"Do you want to?" Lexa answered with a question of her own. She had thought about this subject in the past few months quiet often. After Marie had returned from Ice Nation, it had not been wise to deepen her education in that field. The girl had fallen "sick" not too soon after and she wondered now what it was that the child actually wanted to do. "You know that you are not required to become a warrior, little one?" Lexa checked in a soft tone, before the girl could have answered her first question.

Marie frowned deeply, fearing that she was not performing well in training and that her moms might not consider her suitable any longer. She was their daughter now, so, she was not immediately worried that they may send her away. "But you are all warriors" Marie said slowly after a moment of silence with a contemplative expression, while she wound her arms around Lexa's midriff, hugging her.

"Yes" Lexa agreed, placing one arm around the girl as well "I have not been able to chose my fate. My blood chose for me. You on the other hand, can chose if you indeed want to be a warrior. You have proven that you can fight. You can learn something else, if this is what you wish".

Marie let her head lay on Lexa's chest, simply being for the moment and not actually wanting to think about having to make life-changing decision. She could still sense Lexa waiting for an answer patiently "Do I got to chose now, mommy?" she asked in a slightly whiny tone.

Lexa chuckled slightly under her breath, brushing back a few lose strands of blond hair and tucking them behind Marie's ear "No, little star, you can tell me about your day instead" she appeased the child.

"Marie, this is really getting ridiculous" Ontari tried to reason with the younger girl to no avail. "You have been working on your "gifts" now for over three weeks, believe me, Anya and the commander know very well where you disappear to".

Marie rolled her eyes at the older girl, refusing to listen to her words. Her presents were finally finished and she had asked Ontari to accompany her while she fetched them. In the end she had decided on stitching a beautiful motive onto a belt for Anya and Callum's mother had taught her how to dip candles and how to whittle them later.

She had actually made several different candles with Callum's mother, but she had only used her full artistic talent on one of them, whittling it into an incarnate tree with stars in between the leaves.

"The gifts are finished now" Marie proclaimed proudly, ignoring Ontari's seemingly rather bad mood for now "I need you to look if Lexa and Anya are in our quarters are not".

Ontari frowned at the younger girl's words, confused why she would need help with that at all. Usually the amount of guards standing on the corridor in front of the commander's chambers was a good indicator for her presence and she knew that the general was done on the training pits for the day.

"By the way…" Marie continued speaking as if she had noticed Ontari's questioning stare "…do you like having your own quarters?" she questioned. She still would have actually preferred for Ontari to be with them all through the day as well, but she understood her moms' reasoning that Ontari was getting too old and needed more freedom.

Ontari raised a brow at the girl at the sudden change of the topic. "It is nice" she finally offered after a short moment of silence. She would not have minded sharing a room with the younger girl and she guessed that she would have gotten used to living with the rest of the conclave as well, but she definitely preferred having her privacy for a few hours of the day.

"Do you like being a warrior?" Marie asked another question. She had thought about the conversation Lexa had tried to have with her, but she had not been able to come to a conclusion. On the Ark, she would have probably gotten a job similar to her parents and here it seemed to work in a similar way. She honestly had no idea what she actually could become if she was not to be a warrior. She could imagine being a hunter, but Anya was still criticizing her lacking patience.

Ontari's brows furrowed at the unexpected question. She had been brought to the Ice queen as a young child and she honestly could not clearly remember a life before that. It had never been a question that she would not be raised to try and become the commander. She had never considered if she actually liked the life, she had been fated to with being born with the blood of the commander.

"Why do you want to know this?" Ontari asked, not knowing how to answer the question. She knew that it made no sense to contemplate such questions.

"Mommy asked me if I actually want to continue the training as a flamekeeper and if I want to become a warrior at all" Marie recited in a slightly worried tone. She still did not know what to make of the question at all. She had thought about asking Anya about it, but she did not want the woman to doubt her intentions.

"Do you want something else?" Ontari asked after another moment of silence, keeping her tone low. She knew that the streets of Polis were not actually the right location for such a conversation.

Marie shrugged her shoulders "Don't know" she answered with frustration filtering into her tone. She still did not even wish to truly think about this. She was afraid of how far reaching the consequences of the wrong choice could be.

Her thoughts were put to a stop, once they reached Callum's home. Marie knocked again and her arrival had obviously already been awaited.

Callum seemed to be a weird mixture of happy and sad to hand over the finished gifts to Marie. "You going to visit again, aren't you?" the young boy asked hopefully.

Marie nodded eagerly with a smile. She had liked spending time with the family "I would love to" she agreed, smiling at the young boy wildly before she thanked his parents again.

Marie was antsy with excitement as she joined Ontari back in front of the small house. "Do you think they will like them?" she questioned as her excitement dimmed momentarily with the thought that her moms may not even like her gifts.

Ontari snorted under her breath "I am sure you could literally gift them some sort of trash and they would be over the moon over it" she commented in an amused tone.

Marie frowned as her eyes gleamed for a moment. Her expression softened again once Ontari held up her hands in mock surrender and the older girl began to laugh openly. It took only a mere moment, before Marie joined in.

Chapter 270

"You are going to gift a candle to the commander?" Ontari asked, inspecting the things Marie was carrying, while she had been handed a small box as well by the younger girl. Marie had told her that the box contained other candles as well, even ones which were supposed to be able to swim in a bath. She did not understand why this was supposed to be a good thing. Who would want to put candles into water?

"Didn't you think a dagger or such would have been a better gift?" Ontari tried to question the younger girl again.

Marie frowned at the older girl, glaring at her lightly. She had thought hard and long about what she wanted to gift to her moms and she had explicitly decided against her gift being a weapon. She knew that both of the Trikru women had more than enough weapons and she wanted it to be something which did not have anything to do with fighting. Ontari's questions were beginning to grant on her nerves though. Before the nightblood had said that Lexa and Anya would surely be happy about anything she gifted to them, so why was she trying to make her doubt her gifts now?

"Have you ever gotten a gift?" Marie broke the silence again. They were just entering the tower now and she somehow sensed that there was more to Ontari's questioning.

Ontari furrowed her brows at the younger girl. She thought back on her time with the Ice queen. She had been gifted with weapons on occasion, but she could not remember ever receiving anything else. She shook her head in the negative after a moment, waiting in front of the elevator with Marie.

Marie's expression turned a little sad. She could remember her parents gifting her with something for each of her birthdays and Christmas as well. Lexa and Anya had also given her so much, also they had not really used the term "gift" if she remembered correctly. She watched the older girl for a few silent moments, coming to the decision, that she would be the one to give Ontari her very first gift then. She just first needed to figure out what she could gift to her and it would definitely not be a weapon either. She thought the older girl could use some form of hobby beside her training as a nightblood. Lexa seemed to put importance into reading and she had offered her things to do arts as well, maybe she could see if Ontari might like something similar.

Marie shook her head slightly, ending her train of thought "So, you will go ahead and look if Lexa and Anya are inside. If so…" she hesitated for a moment, noticing that she had actually not fully thought this thing through "…you stay inside. If they are not there, you can call me in and you need to wait outside then and stall Lexa and Anya if they return, before I am ready" she instructed the older girl, voice slightly high-pitched with excitement.

Ontari rolled her eyes at the younger girl's excitement, but she was not planning on not helping her. She could have told Marie before she entered the commander's quarters that they were empty. Enough time had passed with the heightens security measures and no incidents had occurred, that the numbers of guards had been decreased again. The coalition really seemed to have peace finally, although Ontari knew that it would be dangerous to expect this state to last indefinitely.

She motioned to Marie who had been waiting for her outside, waving her inside and she willingly left the room again, leaning against a wall outside. She hoped that the commander and general would not return while Marie was occupied as she had not thought of something to keep them from entering yet.

She was relieved when Marie stepped out a few minutes later again. It was obvious that the younger girl was eager.

"I can leave you waiting alone, right?" Ontari checked in a kind tone. She did not mind spending time with Marie at all, she liked that younger girl, but she would prefer not to be there when she gave her gifts to the commander and general. She was sure that it could easily become a quiet emotional scene and those still made her uncomfortable on some level.

Marie nodded with a slight frown "But you can stay, if you want" she offered, smiling hopefully at the older girl, but Ontari immediately shook her head and already turned around to leave. She watched her go reluctantly, she would truly have preferred for Ontari to stay. She did not understand why Ontari always seemed to flee from these situations.

She went back into their quarters after a few moments. She had arranged the candles on the big table, placing the prettiest one in the middle. She had even placed a ribbon around it and she had wrapped a ribbon around the belt for Anya as well and it was waiting on the table as well.

Risha must have accompanied Lexa to the meeting with the ambassadors. She had heard that today was the first meeting again. She had hoped to meet Monty, asking if he had an answering letter from Maura for her, but she had unfortunately missed the young man. She had knocked on the door to the quarters which had been assigned to him before her training session with Anya, but no one had opened.

She actually had no idea how long it might take for Anya and Lexa to return. It may be that Anya had joined the meeting of the ambassadors after training with her unit and she could imagine that the first meeting after the pause might actually take long.

Marie quickly became bored with doing nothing but staring at the door and trying to listen for the sounds of footsteps. She huffed in annoyance; in her imagination she would not have had to wait this long. She began walking through the room, searching for something to occupy herself with.

She noticed that first commander's journal on the table next to the bed. Marie wondered since when it had been there again. She had not seen it in a long time and she had not spoken with Lexa again about her education as a flamekeeper. Maybe the woman had decided that she could continue with it if she wanted. She had not truly come to any decision, but she was sort of curious about what had happened after the bombs.

Marie picked up the journal, walking back over to the couches and she settled onto one of the comfy armchairs in front of the fire. She quickly took off her boots, letting them drop to the ground next to the armchair and she pulled a soft fur over herself, curling herself together comfortably on the armchair as she settled down to read.

"As if they are forgetting everything as soon as they leave the capitol" Anya remarked with an eye roll on the way to their quarters to Lexa, walking beside the young leader.

The ambassadors had been back to quarrelling between each other about the simplest little things and Anya's patience had been wearing thin during the meeting. Lexa had sat through the meeting with her usual stoicism, not showing that she was as annoyed as her general was.

"I hope that Marie will return before dinner tonight from her little outing" Lexa exclaimed, not wanting to speak further about the meeting with the ambassadors. Some of the ambassadors of the outer clans had reported worrying changes in the wildlife in their lands. She also had gotten a letter from Clarke; Monty had handed it to her at the end of the meeting and the young man had said that they would probably need to speak about the contents tomorrow which honestly confused her greatly.

The guards in front of their quarters informed them that Marie had already returned some time ago, but everything appeared to be quiet in the room.

Lexa and Anya both were confused to spot the things from Marie on the table, but they failed to spot the little girl at first.

Risha had found her human immediately, but the wolf remained standing in front of the armchair, wagging her tail.

Anya had followed the wolf and the general remained standing in front of the armchair with a smile on her features. Their daughter had obviously fallen asleep while reading.

"Let her sleep" Lexa said in a soft tone, pushing Risha gently away from the armchair. Their daughter had slept pretty restless during the last night and the training had increased again now that her physical health was back to normal. She was internally relieved to see that Marie had been reading the first commander's journal, proving that the child was interested in it without being told to read it. She carefully took the journal out of Marie's lap, placing it on a smaller table. She gently adjusted the fur around Marie's sleeping form as it must have slipped down a little.

Anya had stepped over to the table, inspecting the things Marie must have placed on it. She slightly shook her head at the things, feeling touched. It was obvious that the girl must been working on these things during the last weeks whenever she tried to disappear.

In the meantime, Lexa opened the letter from Clarke. As she read over the letter, her expression darkened visibly. Clarke's words were cryptic, probably in fear that the letter may get into the wrong hands, but Lexa thought to understand what the blonde woman was trying to communicate.

"What is it?" Anya questioned once she noticed Lexa's changed mood.

The commander mutely handed over the letter to her former mentor. It did not contain anything, which she needed to keep from the older woman.

Anya quickly read it as well "The city of light?" she recited a phrase which she had heard before.

Lexa nodded with a deep frown. Clarke had written that the man she had sent back to the Sky people with the message to leave their land and who had been gone from his people for months to look for the city of light, had returned, claiming to be able to distribute the key to the city of light. She had described that the people who had taken the key were acting strangely and she was worried. She had also included a sketch of this key and this had alarmed Lexa the most. The thing showed the commander's symbol and she knew that Titus would be wanting to know about this as well.

"I want to travel to Arkadia soon" Lexa proclaimed, not waiting for Anya to finish reading the letter as well. Now that there was finally peace between the clans, she did not want anything to happen which could jeopardize this state so quickly.

Marie waking up a moment later, hindered Anya in saying anything to the letter. The blonde girl stood up quickly, almost falling over the fur in her haste and her surprise that Lexa and Anya were already there, quickly turned into disappointment "You should have not come inside yet" she said in a sad tone "I had wanted to surprise you".

Lexa turned her full attention to Marie, giving the child a smile "What are these for, little star?" she questioned the girl in a gentle tone.

Marie shrugged a little awkwardly "I had just wanted to make you two a surprise gift, 'cause your my moms now" she tried to reason, feeling insecure all of a sudden. She had not looked at any of them during her small talk, but had kept her gaze glued to the floor and she had begun to twist the hem of her shirt nervously between her fingers.

"Little star, look at me, please" Lexa prompted the girl in a soft tone. Anya had folded the letter from Clarke back together and placed it on the table, looking over to Marie as well.

Marie looked up with a shy insecure expression, biting at her lower lip uncertainly. When she noticed both women smiling at her, her own mood shifted as well and she quickly rushed to say "Look" she hurried over completely to the table "I made a candle for you. It contains part of my tattoo" she pointed out and she opened the box as well, showing the other candles to both of them "but its too pretty to burn, I think, so I have others as well. Oh, and look…" she pulled out the smaller special candles "they can float in water in a bath. Isn't that cool?"

Lexa laughed at the girl's clear enthusiasm "It looks very beautiful, little star" she complimented her daughter in an honest tone, inspecting the biggest candle closer, while Marie turned to Anya.

"I have made a belt for you" Marie said, taking the belt from the table, before she officially handed it over to Anya "I stitched stars on it and flowers and trees and…" she quickly said "…I hope that it will actually fit". She had had to judge Anya's size and she was a little worried that it would be too small or way too large.

Anya accepted the belt and took a closer look at it "No wonder that you had so many little wounds on your fingers" she chuckled under her breath "and you made a very good job at it, little star". She opened the belt, fitting it around her waist "It fits perfectly" she commented.

Marie smiled brightly "So, you like them?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course, we do" both of them agreed and Marie immediately hugged both of them hard. Her surprises had been a success.

"We do have a surprise for you as well" Lexa said in a kind tone.

Marie tilted her head to the side, waiting for Lexa to elaborate.

"We will be travelling to Arkadia soon" Lexa proclaimed. She did not find it necessary to tell Marie that there was a serious reason for their travel. She could imagine that Marie would love the prospect of seeing her old friend again.

As she had expected, Marie's smile turned even brighter and she seemed to jump up and down in place for a moment in total joy, before she enthusiastically launched herself at Lexa again "Thank you, thank you, thank you, mommy" she chanted happily.

Chapter 271

Marie's joy was a little marred when she asked if Maura had sent a letter back for her, but Lexa had not received another letter than the one from Clarke.

"You will see your friend in person once we travel to their settlement" Anya tried to raise the girl's mood again. Clarke's words had been alarming enough that she was fairly certain for Lexa to arrange their travel to Arkadia in the next days already.

Marie nodded with a slight frown, but she was diverted by Risha suddenly licking at her hands, trying to catch the attention of her human. She giggled when the wolf jumped back from her, all the while wagging its tail playfully at her.

Anya watched Marie and Risha with a slight shake of her head. It was astounding how the wolf was acting more like a dog than what it actually was. Marie had never met a dog before though, so, Anya wondered what had prompted Risha to act the way the wolf was doing. She knew that the wolf would likely be staying with them until it died of old age and she was glad now, that she had not insisted on Marie leaving the wolf alone in the woods around TonDC to starve.

"Are we gonna stay long in Arkadia?" Marie inquired, looking through the commander's quarters for the sort of ball she had been using to play with Risha.

"I do not know yet, Marie" Lexa answered while she folded Clarke's letter back together carefully and stored it inside her coat. She took off her coat finally and unlaced her boots. Dinner would surely be served soon. Internally, Lexa was debating the pros and cons of taking Ontari and Aden with them on the journey to Arkadia. She knew that Marie's birthday must be getting closer, the girl had mentioned it a few days ago and she remembered the child's disappointment at her last birthday passing by unnoticed during her time with the queen Nia.

Marie shrugged her shoulders at the vague answer. She had not been successfully yet in locating the ball she was searching for and she was sure that she had crossed the whole huge room by now. All that was left to look at now, were the places like under the bed. She got onto her knees next to the bed, pulling up a few furs which nearly touched the ground, trying to see if there was anything beneath it.

"What are you doing there?" Lexa inquired curiously with amusement underlying her tone. She had stepped closer to the bed, storing her shining headpeace on the small table next to the bed.

"Risha's ball" came Marie's muffled answer. She was still kneeling next to the bed, but there was not enough light to actually see anything, so, she was now feeling blindly beneath the large piece of furniture. "There is something" she called out a moment later, trying to stretch her arm just a little longer.

Lexa sighed under her breath; she could imagine what Marie was feeling there. Since Anya and Marie had moved into the commander's quarters, she had been storing a small box with a few personal belongings under the bed. Marie had seen the box before, when she had shown her some of the sketches Clarke had drawn, but she guessed that Marie must have forgotten about it.

Marie frowned when she finally recognized the feeling of wood under the tips of her fingers. She still pulled at the item. Her expression turned confused, before it enlightened with recognition. She carefully took the box up from the ground, searching for Lexa and almost being surprised to find the woman sitting on the bed as if she was already waiting for her.

"Do you still have some of Clarke's drawings in it?" Marie asked in a hopeful tone. She remembered how Lexa had shown them to her, before she had regained her memory.

Lexa nodded, motioning the girl to sit down beside her, as she carefully took the box from the girl's hands. She opened it and pulled out the few pieces of paper on the top, closing the box again and placing it beside herself on the bed, as she handed the drawings over to Marie.

Marie pulled a grimace at the first drawing of herself. She did not know when Clarke had made it, but she was sure that she had not seen this one before. It showed herself, obviously right after her arrival in Polis after her time with the Ice queen, standing behind bars. It must have been when Clarke had seen herself there. "I thought you'd burnt them, mommy" she said in a low tone. Her fingers clenched automatically around the edges of the paper, crumbling it under her grip.

Lexa reached out, placing her hands over Marie's softly. "I know that you do not wish to be reminded of that time, little star" she acknowledged the child's reaction to the drawing. She had kept it though, because she did not wish to forget it either, no matter how bitter the time had been. It had been the moment of knowing for sure that their daughter was alive still.

"Can't we destroy it?" Marie asked, almost pleading with the commander. She still let go of the piece of paper immediately once Lexa tried to brush her hands off of it.

Lexa sighed under her breath, folding the piece of paper clearly in half "You do not have to look at it, Marie, but I do want to keep it" she said honestly. She knew that Marie was considerate of the feelings of others and would most likely respect her wish to keep it.

Marie nodded clearly begrudgingly, but she simply turned her attention to the other drawings and her smile returned again as she spotted herself sitting at a fire in TonDC, playing with a much younger Risha. All of the other drawings Lexa had kept, showed either Marie alone, or Marie with Lexa or Anya in various scenes. She laughed once she recognized herself throwing the dagger at the mutant gorilla. She knew now that she most definitely only had had a huge amount of luck back then.

"Do you think Clarke could draw all of us together?" Marie asked in a thoughtful tone after she had looked through all of the drawings. There was not a single one which showed all of them. She admired the one which showed her complete tattoo though. It was really a shame that much of it was destroyed now.

Lexa nodded "I am sure she would be happy to do so, if you ask her in Arkadia" she agreed. She would actually like such a drawing as well.

"We could hang it on the wall" Marie said with a smile, pointing towards the wall right above the headpiece of the bed. She knew that some families on the Ark still had had hold of old-fashioned cameras and photos taken with them had been extremely valuable. She could remember that Maura had such a picture of herself as a toddler and her parents hung above her bed in their quarters.

Lexa nodded again with the hint of a smile. She could almost already imagine a rather large drawing hanging there.

Marie looked past Lexa to the box still standing next to her. Her curiosity was quipped now "Can I see what else there is?" she asked with shining eyes. She always loved when Lexa told her about her upbringing or her early training with Anya.

"Marie, don't be so audacious" Anya chided the girl from the table suddenly in a strict tone "The things Lexa keeps in there are private".

Marie frowned at the general, looking back at Lexa with her head slightly tilted to the said "I'm sorry, mommy" she immediately apologized.

"No harm done, little star" Lexa assured the girl in a kind tone "It is "may I" though and not "can I"" she corrected the child's choice of words. She hesitated for a very brief moment, before she actually handed the whole box over to Marie "You may by the way" she said with a slight chuckle at the almost shocked expression on the child's features.

Marie cautiously opened the lid of the wooden box, as if she was afraid that she could break it any moment. Lexa still held Clarke's drawings in her hand.

Marie pouted as she spotted the braid Lexa had still kept from her on top of the rest of the things "I still don't like that she has cut it off" she commented with a slight grumble in her tone.

Lexa shook her head at the girl "It has already grown back a lot" she reasoned kindly. She knew that it would probably still take a year or two until it was fully grown back to the same length.

Marie nodded with a sigh and she cautiously took out a necklace. It seemed to be made from a sort of leather cord but a beautiful shiny amber was dangling from it. "This is really beautiful" she commented, placing the amber in her palm and feeling over the gemstone carefully.

Lexa nodded and her expression turned melancholic for a moment. The necklace had belonged to Costia. She had gifted it to her. The amber had resembled the exact colour of her eyes. On the day, where Costia had been abducted from Polis, the necklace had been left behind. Lexa had known back then already that Costia would not have parted with it freely.

Marie's smile lessened as she sensed Lexa suddenly switched mood. She mutely scooted closer to the woman, leaning against her slightly.

Lexa gave the child a strained smile. She knew that the memory of Costia would forever be a painful one to her.

"Was that from Costia?" Marie inquired in an unbelievably soft tone, looking up at the woman.

Lexa nodded with a deep sigh "Her eyes looked exactly like that in the sunlight" she explained.

Marie inspected the amber a little closer again, holding it upwards, so that the stone could catch some more light from the fire. "She must have been really beautiful" she acknowledged thoughtfully as she carefully placed the necklace back into the wooden box. She felt sorry now that she even had wanted to take a look at the things at all. It was obvious that it had saddened Lexa and the last thing she had wanted, was to make her mommy sad. She closed the wooden box with a soft click and quickly bend down, pushing it back under the bed, before she sat up again, giving the commander a quick hug "I am sorry, mommy, I had not wanted to make you sad".

Lexa was surprised that the child had stopped looking through the things, it was obvious that she had been curious and she did not truly mind sharing her past with her daughter. "You can look through the rest if you want to" she assured the girl as her melancholic mood slowly eased again as she looked into the girl's grey eyes.

Marie shook her head "Maybe another time" she said with a smile, letting go of Lexa again "I still haven't found Risha's ball" she pouted.

"Have you thrown it away?" she asked towards Anya with a frown. The general had not seemed very happy about her playing ball with Risha, saying to her that a wolf was not a dog who should apport things.

Anya shook her head "Of course, not" she retorted in a miffed tone, affronted that the child would assume so.

"It must be somewhere, Marie" Lexa reasoned. She knew that no one would have dared to throw it away.

Marie pouted still as she continued to search through their quarters. She let out a little squeal of triumph a short moment later, crawling out from under the couch, as she held up the ball she had been searching for with a wide smile.

Risha was jumping around Marie in clear excitement and Marie was currently trying to teach the commando "stay" to the wolf, wanting Risha to wait until she told her to run and fetch the ball.

"Why are we actually going to Arkadia?" Marie asked after a few moments, sitting on the ground now, leaning against the back of the couch as she continued to play with Risha.

Lexa and Anya exchanged a quick gaze. Lexa had not actually planned to tell Marie about the actual reason of their travel. "Clarke has written something worrying about the city of light" Lexa finally decided to tell the girl the whole truth.

Marie frowned, remembering that she had read about the city of light in the first commander's journal, but something else about Lexa's words stuck in her mind. "Clarke has written a letter to you?" she asked, stopping her play with Risha completely to the wolf's obvious consternation.

Lexa nodded in agreement; she had just said so after all. She was confused why Marie appeared crestfallen all of a sudden. "What is it, little star?" she inquired attentively.

Marie looked at Lexa with sad eyes "Clarke has written to you" she said in a sad tone "Maura has obviously not answered to my letter. That must mean that she doesn't even want to answer…" she seemed to sniffle at the end actually.

Lexa sighed under her breath "Marie, you are jumping to conclusions" she tried to caution the girl. There could be a number of reasons as to why no letter had been delivered to Marie from Maura.

Marie looked at Lexa with slightly teary grey eyes "Do you think she's sick?!" she asked, tone getting higher and higher with each word.

Lexa quickly shook her head "No, little star, Maura may not have had time to answer yet" she tried to reassure the girl. Standing up from the table and sitting down next to Marie on the ground.

"In what…three weeks?" Marie retorted doubtfully, snuffling her nose.

Lexa sighed under her breath. She could not give the girl a satisfying answer, but she highly doubted that Maura would be actively ignoring her. "You will see her soon, Marie" she tried to sooth the girl.

"And if she doesn't want to see me?" Marie asked, lower lip trembling already.

"Stop with this nonsense, Marie" Anya now finally said something as well "You are overreacting. Maura will have a good reason why she has not written and she will of course be happy to see you".

None of them of course could have known, that Maura indeed had written a letter back, but Monty still had it, wanting to hand it over to Marie in person during the next meeting between the commander and the ambassadors.