Suzanne: I'm glad you are enjoying this story.

Guest reviewer: You too.

Chapter 36

Raven came into the village to find Adara. She looked around and asked a warrior if he knew where Adara was. The warrior waved vaguely in the direction of Anya's tent.

"Thanks a lot, pal!" Raven muttered under her breath as she walked away from him. She headed in the direction he waved at and came to a complete stop when she saw Luna. God, the woman was just as beautiful as she remembered. Raven stopped her thoughts at those words. Luna didn't remember. This Luna had never met her before and this Luna had a partner - a man at that! Life was a bitch at times. She continued towards Luna.

"Hello, Heda Luna," Raven said deferentially.

"Hello," said Luna, wondering who this person was.

"Sorry, I'm Raven, one of Adara's friends and advisors. I'm looking for her, actually. Don't suppose you've seen her, have you?" Luna nodded and pointed to the tent behind her.

"Adara is in there," she said.

"Thanks," replied Raven, heading towards the tent. Raven didn't look back so she didn't see Luna watching her as she walked away.

Raven came to a stop in front of the guard.

"I'd like to talk to Adara, please." said Raven, being respectful for once and not her usual irreverent self.

"She is talking to the Commander, you'll have to wait." She looked him up and down.

"Not bloody likely!" she said backing up a couple of steps. "ADARA!" she yelled. The guard took one step towards her to come for her but remembered he was guarding the Commander's tent and could not leave it unless given permission by the Commander.

"ADARA! THIS GOON WON'T LET ME TALK TO YOU AND I NEED TO!" yelled Raven. She smiled at the guard who glowered at her.

Adara came bursting out of the tent.

"God, Raven, keep it down!"

"Well that goon was being obnoxious about letting me talk to you."

"Raven, what do you want?" Adara asked, resigning herself to having a talk to her about respect later that night.

"I've been thinking about what you said about Farm Station. You know, about how we need to make sure they aren't slaughtered by the Azgeda if Pike brings it down?"

"Yes?" said Adara.

"Well, how about we go on a rescue mission. We could get a few of the Trikru to guide us to their border and then we wait for Farm Station to come down and then we go and rescue them."

"You want to send a group of our kids to rescue Farm Station from Azgeda?" Adara looked at Raven as if she had lost her mind.

"Yeah. Some of those people are our parents, Adara. We could go get them." Raven was excited by the prospect. Adara wasn't. She put her fingers on either side of her nose and closed her eyes.

"Raven, what about Pike? What about Hannah Green, you know - the homicidal maniac that was just a bloodthirsty as Pike? Remember her - Monty's mom?"

Raven looked crestfallen.

"Oh. Didn't think of that." Raven looked like someone had just kicked her puppy.

"I don't think it's a bad idea, Raven. We just need to think about it some more BEFORE we go rescue them. Pike needs to be stopped and he needs to be gone before he infects everyone else. Remember, Monty was the one who killed his own mom. Do you want to dredge that up for him? I know he'll want to go rescue them, but we have to be careful about this. It's not just Pike, it's Azgeda as well. Nia kills all trespassers - even ones that the Commander sends get killed. Just think about it some more before you come to me with a plan for it, okay? Besides, I told Kane to empty out Farm Station before they come down and leave the station behind and you've already sabotaged the nav systems."

"Yeah, okay," said Raven, dejectedly.

"Don't worry, Raven. We'll think of something to save as many as we can."

"Okay." Raven looked around and saw Luna sitting next to Anya, having a drink.

"Do you think I'll be able to get with Luna this time?" she asked.

"I don't know, Raven, but if you stick close, you can get to know her and she can get to know you. Just don't be an idiot or disrespectful around her. I think she needs discipline in her life. She's struggling with the whole concept of having to kill to save others. Tread carefully, Raven, she's more fragile than she looks." Raven nodded, glancing at Luna again.

"Yeah," she said.

"Go find Octavia and make sure everyone is behaving. I've got to talk to the Commander again."

"Okay, see you later." Raven gave a small wave and moved off.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Adara made her way back to the tent. She entered and Clarke and Lexa jumped apart.

"Sorry about that, Raven had an idea about going to rescue Farm Station in Azgeda. I've put her off for now, but she is right. Pike needs to be dealt with before he infects more people with his idiocy. Hannah too, if she's too far gone into the same madness."

"Monty won't like that," Clarke said.

"I know, but sometimes what we don't know, we can't do anything about. Hannah may just be as mad as Pike or she may have decided it's a them or us scenario. If we can get to her soon enough, we may save her. I think she would be put on Bermuda. I don't think she's going to accept my leadership."

"Again, Monty won't like it."

"Monty will have to decide what he wants. He can go with his parents to Bermuda, or he can stay with us. His decision."

"When will you tell him?"

"When we know if she can be saved or not. I will tell you one thing, anyone going to the island, doesn't get off unless it's one of us coming back. No boats or ships will be given to them. I don't want them finding a way back to the mainland."

"Do you think that's wise?" asked Clarke.

"Clarke, think back to when you were in charge and your own mother forbade you to do things because you were just a child and she knew better. Do you think that your mother would back down without a backup plan?" Clarke looked at her for a moment, thinking about how her mother acted last time.

"No. She would try to circumvent anything I did. She never got the point. She believed that as an adult, she knew what was best for me and that was basically wrapping me in cotton wool and keeping me locked behind the fence inside Arkadia. She never got that I - we - were trying to do the right thing by everyone. We were dealing with the grounders by acknowledging they were the rightful heirs of Earth."

"We were - well you were. I was recovering from being burnt in the ring of fire. The reason I bring it up is because we have to find out if Bermuda is viable. If not, we have to find somewhere else. The sooner the better." Clarke nodded her assent.

"What else do we need to do?"

"If the Commander allows us, we need to find a place to live. We need to be on guard for Mount Weather. We need to learn whatever the Clans will teach us and we need to make sure that the Arkers don't cause problems until we can get them to wherever we decide to stash them."

"So, not much?" said Clarke, facetiously.

"Nah, piece of cake," said Adara, sarcastically and they both laughed.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

David, Eva and Pascal had left with Luna to return to her clan to get a ship and go to Bermuda. They would be gone for several weeks. They would come back to Luna's clan and then ride back to Tondc.

With them gone, training and learning carried on as usual. Adara was on a hunt with Murphy, Octavia and Monroe. They were accompanied by several warriors, but the hunt was theirs. They crept silently through the brush and new growth - the summer season had just started - and watched for any sign of their prey. They had spotted a wild boar. The warriors had gotten into the trees and were watching them hunt it. Monroe stopped and held her hand up, signing that she had spotted their prey. Monroe was the hunt leader today and she was taking it very seriously. She motioned to Murphy to go left and Octavia to go right. Adara moved up behind Monroe and looked over her shoulder. She saw the boar foraging in the dirt eight meters in front of them, its back to them.

Monroe looked left and then right as each person signalled they were in position. Monroe then nodded to Adara, They both stood up, raised their spears and threw them. They struck the boar in both hind and side. Before it could take off, spears from both sides struck its sides. It squealed and fell down but it was still alive. Monroe as lead hunter ran forward, drawing her knife and plunging it into the boar's neck. The boar lunged forward, catching Monroe on the arm with its razor sharp tusk. Monroe screamed and Murphy pulled a spear out of its side and plunged it back into the boar's throat, killing it.

Adara ran to Monroe and looked at her arm. The boar had gashed her arm almost from elbow to wrist. She quickly applied pressure where she could. She could feel a nudge in her mind and she put all her thoughts into closing the wound. Slowly, bit by bit, the wound seemed to pull itself together and the skin knitted itself together. Adara moved her hands over each part of the wound until it was completely healed. When she was done, she let go of Monroe's arm. Not even a scar was left, it looked like it had never been injured. The grounders were astonished. No-one could heal like that! They didn't know what to think. Monroe had fainted when Adara was applying pressure and had yet to wake. One of the grounder warriors picked her up while two others picked up the boar. They were trudging back to the village when suddenly Adara collapsed.

"Adara!" Octavia shouted. The ones in front stopped and turned round. Murphy went to her side and tried to rouse her.

"She's out cold," he said. "We need to carry her back." One of the grounders volunteered to carry her. It was up to Murphy and Octavia to help carry the boar.

It was about an hour later that they all trudged, exhausted into Tondc. The entrance guard called for Nyko and the warriors moved to the healers tent as the others went to the cooks tent. The warrior with them said he would skin and gut the boar for them. Murphy and Octavia ran for the healers tent. When they got there, Clarke was already checking her over. She looked up when they got to the tent.

"What happened?"

"Adara healed Monroe and then collapsed about five minutes later on the way back."

"Healed Monroe from what?"

"We were hunting a boar and it wasn't quite dead so Monroe went to kill it. As she stuck the knife in, the damn thing gored her on her right arm." said Murphy.

"It was from elbow to wrist. A great big gash that bled a lot," supplied Octavia.

Clarke looked over at Monroe. There was blood on her arm but she couldn't see a wound.

"Adara healed her?" Clarke said incredulously.

"Yeah, damndest thing I ever saw," said Murphy with a hint of reverence.

"Did Adara hit her head when she went down?" asked Clarke, feeling Adara's head for any contusions.

"No. She just… collapsed. It scared the shit out of Octavia," said Murphy, recovering his snide attitude.

"I was just concerned about her, that's all," said Octavia, slapping him in the stomach with the back of her hand. Murphy just grinned. He turned back to Clarke.

"So, anything?" he asked, meaning about Adara.

"No. She's just unconscious. I think she'll wake on her own in a few hours. Why don't you go and rest up. It'll be dark soon." The two of them just nodded and left the tent.

"What were you doing, Adara, huh?" she whispered to her sleeping patient. Clarke really wanted to know how Adara had healed Monroe's arm. She sighed and got up to go and clean up Monroe. It was going to be a long night.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Adara woke up just before dawn to a strange room that was mostly dark. She tried to sit up, but gave a groan as her head started to pound and lay back down again. Someone hurried over to her. A woman. One Adara had never met.

"Yu souda fou daun" the woman said. Adara looked at her, not comprehending what she was saying.

"I'm sorry, I don't know those words," Adara said, apologetically. Across the aisle a man called out.

"She said you must lie down." Adara looked at him.

"Thank you." She stayed lying down and put her hand to her head.

"Yu raun laudnes?" she asked.

"Are you in pain?" the man translated.

"Yes, but it's going away." The man told the woman what she had said. The woman nodded and left to get more medicine. "Thanks for the help," Adara said to the man. The man just grunted in return. Soon the woman was back with something for Adara to drink. The woman mimed that it was for her headache. Adara drank it and thanked the woman.

"Mochof" Adara said, trying out one of the few words she knew in Trigedasleng.

The woman smiled and went back to the table and returned the cup. Adara was asleep a few minutes later.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Clarke walked into the tent before the morning meal to check on Adara. Nyko had told her to get some rest as Adara had been unconscious since she had been brought in. So reluctantly, Clarke had gone for something to eat and then went to their tent to sleep. Clarke privately admitted that she needed it. She also admitted that she was worried that something was wrong with Adara. She knew she would have to step up as leader until she was better, but she knew she didn't want to. This time around, the decisions weren't on her shoulders anymore - well not fully. She had a leader who knew what to do, all Clarke had to do was go along with the decisions that made sense and query the decisions she wasn't sure about. So far, Adara had done a better job than Clarke herself had last time.

Clarke looked towards the sleeping form of her friend. Clarke walked up to her and started to check her pulse and temperature.

"She woke up before and one of the healers gave her a painkiller. She was asleep soon after," the man across the way said.

"Mochof," Clarke said, turning back to Adara.

Adara began to stir and slowly opened her eyes. She saw Clarke leaning over her.

"Hi," said Adara, in a rough voice. She tried to clear her throat. Clarke stopped her.

"Wait until I've given you some water," Clarke said. Adara nodded and Clarke moved off to get some. When Adara had a drink, she cleared her throat again.

"Thanks," Adara said.

"You're welcome," said Clarke. "What happened? Why did you collapse?"

"I think I must have inadvertently triggered that double sight thing. One minute I was standing on solid ground and the next I was looking down on a building from a couple of metres above it."

"Murphy said you just collapsed?"

"I think the shock of seeing myself in midair had a dizzying effect on me. That's why I collapsed."

"What triggered this… second sight thing?"

"I think that I haven't got the hang of closing my mind off when I've finished using it. I think that healing Monroe took more out of me than I thought. My mind must have switched to my other ability and I didn't know it was going to happen until it did." Adara was thinking about the consequences of it happening again. "I need to learn more control."

"Is this going to be a danger to you?"

"I don't think so, in fact, I think it could be a good thing. I can find places that were lost in time and there could be places we could use. I know this place was the old Washington D.C. so this was the centre of the government. With so many politicians, diplomats, ambassadors and emissaries, they would need somewhere to go if the place was bombed. Surely there are lots of bunkers that could be used by us, especially if we need to hide from the mountain men." Clarke stared at her while thinking through all that Adara had said.

"Possibly. We'd need to talk with the Commander," Clarke stated. Adara nodded and then winced.

"Pain?"

"Yeah, but only if I move my head."

"Well stay down and get some more rest. I'll keep the troops in line until you're well enough to take over again."

"Thanks, Clarke," said Adara, holding out her hand to Clarke. Clarke took it and clasped it.

"Just get better," said Clarke, bending down and kissing her forehead. With that, Clarke left the tent and headed to the Commander's tent to appraise her of Adara's condition. Yeah, that's the excuse she'd use.