Previously in chapter 271
Marie and Lexa look through a box in which Lexa stores personal trinkets.
Chapter 272
Marie's worries that Maura may already have forgotten about her or was angry at her for some unknown reason were eased once the blonde girl finally received her friend's letter from Monty.
Marie had been so excited about getting the letter from the young man, that she indeed has asked Lexa if she would be excused from the ambassador meeting to go and immediately read the letter.
Anya raised a brow at their daughter in mute criticism. In her mind there was absolutely no reason as to why Marie would need to leave the meeting and read her letter now instead of wating patiently for the meeting to be over and read it afterwards. To her it seemed also that the child was purposefully not looking at her direction, but only looking at Lexa with her most convincing innocent look within her large grey eyes.
Just as Anya wanted to chide their daughter, other ambassadors began to pile into the throne room and the general bit her tongue, not wanting to overrule Lexa in any way in front of witnesses.
Marie's shoulders dropped a little and she pouted, feeling that she had missed her chance to exit the meeting.
The girl's expression brightened tenfold though once Lexa nodded towards the balcony. The commander gave the child a gentle look "Stay outside until the meeting is over" she ordered in the kind tone and watched with the hint of a smile how Marie immediately hurried towards the balcony with happily hoping steps.
The guard standing at the large door to the balcony barely had time to pull it open for the girl, before Marie nearly collided with it in her haste.
Hearing the general's unmistakable voice giving a snort over her shoulder, Marie threw back a charming smile with a slight blush to her cheeks, before she slipped through the door.
It was already relatively cold on the balcony. The sun was setting earlier with each day as the summer passed and blended into autumn. The wind was blowing strongly already and Marie felt her hair being pushed around her face wildly.
She let herself sink down against the wall of the tower, not paying the amazing breath-taking view any real glance. Instead immediately ripping over the letter she had received from Maura.
The other girl apologized for having taken so long to answer. Marie just rolled her eyes at that. She was sure that she could write a short letter each day if Anya and Lexa would let her, but both women had told her that it was a waste of paper and also not useful to bombard Maura with letters before she even got a single one. It also took a messenger at least two days to travel back and forth.
Some parts of the letter made her frown in confusion though. Maura had written that her mother had spent a lot of time with Jaha for some reason and that she wanted her to take some weird "key". She did not understand what this was supposed to mean. Maura described that her mother had changed her behaviour as well somehow.
Marie wished that she would be allowed to use the radio which now probably was with Monty and tell her friend that she would come to Arkadia soon. She was not sure when they would really leave the capitol, but she somehow doubted that another messenger would make the way before them. She also did not know if she was supposed to tell her mums about the weird parts of Maura's letter, but she just shrugged it off.
Marie did not know if the meeting was supposed to continue long, but she doubted that her mums would appreciate it if she returned inside before it was over and essentially interrupt the whole meeting.
So, Marie first re-read the letter a second time, before she turned her attention to her surroundings. Clouds were travelling across the sky and Marie leaned back to watch them further. She had taken a liking to gazing at the sky and trying to recognize shapes in the clouds.
Marie may not have received much schooling on the Ark, but now that she had access to Lexa's assembled library, she liked to leaf through different books. She regretted not having one with her now.
The last one she had gotten was a book about a variety of animals. It was written in an index form as if it had been an educational lexicon in the old world. A few of the pages of the old book held hand-written comments, some even written in Trigedasleng. There were mostly hints about sightings of the different animals and how the animals may have changed in comparison to how they once looked like and behaved. Marie for example had not known that the gorilla or "pauna" she had encountered around TonDC with Lexa and Clarke was larger and more aggressive than these animals used to be.
If she looked up at the sky now and did not look too closely, the big cloud just passing by the tower could be recognized as a "pauna" and a loudly roaring one at that. Marie smiled slightly at the memory and her fingers almost automatically now went to the dagger which was strapped to her thigh daily now.
Marie shuddered for a moment as the unbidden thought invaded her mind of what would have happened to her if Lexa had died that day facing the gorilla to allow Clarke and her to slip away. She honestly doubted that the beast would have been busy long enough for Clarke and her to flee at all, both not sure of the way back to TonDC anyway. And even if they had made it back, Marie did not even want to really imagine how her life would be now if Lexa was dead.
For a second, she wondered if Ontari may be the commander then. They had gotten to know each other later. But she knew now better than anyone else just how strong the influence of the Ice queen could be.
Marie felt bitter bile rise in her throat and she shivered as she tried to forcefully ban all of the memories wanting to flood her mind. She wound her arms around herself and closed her eyes tightly, just trying to focus on her breathing as her surroundings lost the sharpness around her.
It took Marie long moments to slowly and almost painfully her racing breathing again and she frowned when she noticed how sweaty she felt. She shivered even more when she realized that it was a cold sweat.
She wanted nothing more than to just go inside now and be hugged by her mums. Marie knew that even seeing them would help right now.
Although she did not want to anger any of them, Marie did not hold out much longer on the balcony. The scenery around her had completely lost her interest and she knew that she needed company now.
Very carefully and slowly, Marie pushed open the door from the balcony, stepping inside on her tiptoes. She could still feel the weight of a few pairs of eyes immediately resting on her back as she evenly carefully closed the door behind herself, making sure to not even let it make a click.
Marie walked past the commander's throne with her eyes glued to the ground, trying to ignore Titus glaring at her openly. The flamekeeper may have changed some of his opinion about her, probably just because she was able to heal Lexa, but he still did not like her at all and outright hated how much leeway Lexa allowed her. She had heard him rant to the young leader more than once, thankfully Lexa was obviously not paying his words much mind.
She came to stop directly next to Anya, glancing up at the general mutely for a brief moment.
Marie smiled slightly when Anya reached out and gently placed a hand on her back. She guessed that the woman must have noticed the shadow of her fears linger in her eyes.
The meeting was pretty boring and Marie did not even attempt to really listen closely. She stopped listening completely when two ambassadors began arguing about which of their clans had a higher claim on a certain shallow river.
She lightly leaned against Anya's side after a few moments, internally hoping that the meeting would come to a stop soon. Being outside on the balcony suddenly appeared more tempting again, but Marie refrained from moving away and calling even more attention to herself.
Instead, she thought about Maura's letter again. She was already really looking forward to seeing her friend again and a smile bloomed on her features, internally imagining what they could all do when they travelled to Arkadia.
Her smile froze again though. Maura had not seen her for a few months and so much had happened in the meantime. Marie knew that she had also changed a lot and she wondered if Maura had changed as well. What if the other girl would not really recognize her any longer? Or what if she did not like her anymore?
Marie's mind was so occupied imagining one worse-case scenario after the other, that she completely missed when the commander called an ending to the meeting and the ambassadors began to file out of the room around them. She also missed how Anya had watched her the whole time with worried eyes, noticing immediately that something was bothering her daughter and how the girl had not payed any attention to the meeting at all.
"We should let you write reports of the future meetings" Anya remarked in an almost sarcastic tone once also the last ambassador, including Titus, had left the throne room and they were alone again, efficiently snapping the blonde girl out of her thoughts.
Marie blinked owlishly for a few seconds, looking around the large throne room quickly and noticing that only Lexa, Anya and herself were left in the room. She threw a sheepish look at the general, before she looked at Lexa with a slight blush on her cheeks.
The commander had stepped from her throne and came to a stop directly in front of Marie, gazing down at the blonde girl in open concern "Was something upsetting in Maura's letter?" the brown-haired woman asked in a soft tone.
Marie first almost instinctually shook her head. She was not really upset about the letter after all. She remembered the rather weird parts though, stopped shaking her head and actually nodded. Before she decided that this was indeed not so important and the pressing matter was that Maura may not like her anymore, so, she switched back to shaking her head in the negative.
Lexa and Anya exchanged a confused look. They had both tried to establish a relationship with their daughter based on trust, where the child could willingly confess anything to them without the fear of being ridiculed for it.
"Spill, little star" Anya finally retorted after a second of silence as her brown eyes narrowed down at the girl inquiringly.
"There was something weird about her letter, but…" Marie now almost bubbled with her words "…what if she does not like me anymore now?" She looked back and forth between Lexa and Anya with her large grey eyes, mutely pleading for reassurance that her worries were not justified.
Lexa remarked to herself to inquire about the "weird" parts of the letter later again, deeming it more important to ease the child's troubled mind for now first. "Why would Maura not like you any longer?" she questioned the girl in a kind tone, crouching down in front of her, so that their eyes were on the same level.
Marie bit at her lower lip for a second, shivering again as flashes of the Ice queen appeared in front of her eyes. She blinked a few times, focusing on Lexa's gentle gaze instead again. "I changed so much because of …" she trailed off in a heavy tone, looking down at her feet again as her features fell in sadness.
Lexa sighed under her breath lightly before she reached out and gently tilted the girl's chin upwards again, forcing her to reconnect their gazes, while she could see Anya's hands now resting on the girl's shoulders.
"Maura wrote to you. She would surely not keep contact to you, if she did not like you anymore" Lexa tried to reason with their daughter.
Marie did not look really convinced though and retorted "But we have not seen each other in … like forever" she exclaimed in a rising tone "she may not like who I am now…" she added in a more miserable tone.
Lexa gave the girl a long look before she shook her head at her. "The time on earth will have changed Maura as well, Marie" she said after long silent moments "do you think that you will like her any less now?"
Marie immediately shook her head in the negative, not even contemplating the question for a single second.
"And what was weird about her letter?" Lexa asked, hoping that changing the subject would at least distract Marie from her worries. She knew that she could argue all she wanted with their daughter. Marie would only really believe that Maura still liked her, once they travelled to Arkadia and both girls were able to reunite again. She had little doubt that Maura would react anything but happy to seeing Marie again.
Marie immediately pulled out the letter, having stuffed it under the hem of her shirt and quickly folded it open, trying to even out a few of the wrinkles she had caused by being careless with the material. She scanned over it again quickly and pointed with her finger on the parts about the "keys" and how Maura's mother was behaving differently.
Lexa carefully took the letter from Marie's hands, reading it over quickly herself and her features were drawn with worry when she connected what Clarke had already relayed to her with what Maura had written. They really needed to travel to Arkadia as soon as possible. Whatever was going on there had something to do with the flame and it was apparently influencing some of the Sky people already. The least thing they needed now were new tensions between the other clans of the coalition and the Sky people now that they finally had peace for once.
She also gave the letter to Anya, waiting patiently for her former mentor to scan over the letter as well. As Lexa had expected, Anya's features soon mirrored her own internal worry.
Marie was looking between the two of them in confusion. Anya and Lexa had not enclosed the reason for their travel to Arkadia to their daughter and the girl did not know of the contents of Clarke's message either. "Is there gonna be a new war soon, mommy?" the child questioned after a long moment of silence.
Anya had muttered a "this is not good" under her breath, shaking her head and handing the letter back to Lexa.
The commander slightly shook her head at their daughter. There was no indication yet that this would develop into a war, but something was going on and she planned to get down on it before there indeed could be another war.
"No" she said in a calmer tone than what she felt like "but we will begin our travel within the hour" she finally decided briskly.
Alira had had enough of a forewarning of their impending travel to already have prepared their luggage. Lexa knew that the warriors who would accompany them would also already be ready on call.
"We are travelling through the night?" Marie inquired in rising confusion. She knew that Lexa and Anya usually tried to avoid riding through the night as there were far more dangers outside and the terrain was harder to see as well.
Lexa nodded, gently steering the girl out of the throne room.
"But what is going on?" Marie asked curiously. She was not dumb and she knew that what she had found weird in Maura's letter must have alarmed Anya and Lexa likewise. She had not understood the part of Maura's letter though and it seemed that both of her mums indeed did.
"This "keys" that Maura mentioned…" Lexa finally explained in a low voice, making sure that they could not be overheard as they made their way to the elevator.
Marie nodded while her expression was still confused.
"Clarke has mentioned it as well and this thing is engraved with the commander's symbol" Lexa continued to explain once the door to the elevator had glided closed behind them.
Marie frowned in astonishment at that. She had never thought that this could have anything to do with the flame. She had never seen the commander's symbol anywhere on the Ark as she had grown up there. The journal of the first commander also clearly had said that the flame was brought to earth before the other stations had fused to form the Ark. So, how could these keys now show up in Arkadia?
"But a key to what?" Marie finally questioned after long moments of silence.
Anya inclined her head in approval of the girl's sharp mind. "We do not know either yet" she answered before Lexa could.
Marie frowned still and tilted her head to the side "So, we are actually going to Arkadia to see what is happening there?" she asked and her voice got a weird undertone.
Lexa nodded in mute agreement and she sighed under her breath when open disappointment flashed over their daughter's features. "We had planned to invite Maura to the capitol so that you could see her again" she tried to appease the blonde child quickly "but this now forestalled it."
Marie lightly shrugged her shoulders, smile though when Risha jumped from their bed and greeted her enthusiastically "Can Risha come this time?" she asked hopefully, trying to make innocent eyes at Lexa and Anya likewise.
Anya looked doubtful at the question, raising a brow at their daughter, while Lexa finally nodded her head after a moment of contemplation. Marie had trained with Risha to run along while riding and it had worked out well. The journey to Arkadia was not overly long and if it did not work, Lexa was sure that the wolf would find her way back to the capitol or may even make it to TonDC.
Marie gave a small yelp of happiness at that, beaming brightly at the commander "Thank you, thank you, thank you" she chanted happily.
She stopped in her chanting when she remembered Ontari "And what about Ontari?" she questioned. She had hoped to show the older girl some of the place where she had grown up. Although Marie had really given her best to explain how the Ark worked and how it was living among the stars, she still had the impression that Ontari could not really imagine it.
To her utter disappointment though, Lexa shook her head "Ontari and Aden will remain in Polis, taking over my duties together with Titus during our absence".
Marie nodded as she knew that the dark-haired girl would love that. Ontari had told her quite a lot about how it had been in the capitol while the three of them had been with the Boat People and it seemed that the Ice Nation nightblood had really rejoiced at the opportunity to actually be able to put some of her teachings finally to practise without the actual possibility of doing too much harm.