Soon night fell.
The Moon slowly rose in the sky, lighting up the sky with a silvery glow. The stars returned before Cassie's eyes, who kept her nose in the air, peering around her.
After a long time, Anya stopped her horse under a tree and dismounted from the saddle, tying the reins of her horse around a branch. She didn't untie the rope that tied Cassie to the horse's saddle.
"Stay here."
"Wait what? Wait, you're not gonna leave me here with this monster? Anya! Anya, come back here!" She shouted behind the Grounder as she walked away towards the trees.
She turned to the horse, which was quietly chewing green grass.
"Oooh, okay, okay, I'm not a threat. I am not a danger," she insisted. "We're gonna be friends, alright? You and I, we are friends. We are gonna be fine. We are gonna be just fine."
She took a deep breath, looked up at the stars.
"You know, I woke up today and I told myself 'This is today. This is the day that I die.' Well, life is a bitch because she decided to keep custody of me during her divorce with death. And now I'm here! On the fucking Ground! With a psycho who's weirdly hot, by the way, but who wants to play policeman- thief with me, and with you, a whole-ass horse! "
A stone hit her on the back of the head and she turned around with a cry of pain. Anya was walking towards her, branches in her arms.
"That's for calling me a psycho."
"Do you even know what it means?!"
"No, but I know it's mean."
She put her load of wood on the ground, bent over it. Cassie turned to the leaves of the tree swaying in the wind.
A sudden orange light made her turn in Anya's direction. A flame was born, gradually setting the pile of wood ablaze until it created a fire whose heat reached Cassie's body.
Anya straightened up and fetched something from a small saddlebag hanging from the saddle. She sat down facing the fire.
The light from the flames made her face clearer in Cassie's eyes. Her features were thin and strangely well sculpted, her dark almond-shaped eyes were surrounded by black that extended over her high cheekbones. Her brown hair, by the glow of the fire, was starting to look fairer. Many braids and colorful threads dotted her hair. She was wearing a long coat and Cassie could see the sleeves of several daggers in her lapels.
She sat down facing the flames and bit into what she had collected in her satchel.
"Uhh ... Hello there. Prisoner talking here. Are you gonna let me stand up all night or can I seat down and maybe eat something? My tummy makes the sound of a blue whale."
Anya gave her a contemptuous look.
"No."
"No what? You're not gonna let me sleep? That's fine, but good luck dragging my dead body to your city, I'll tell you that."
Anya groaned as she rolled her eyes but stood up and walked over to her horse. She grabbed the rope that was holding Cassie and lengthened it, but did not detach it from the saddle.
"There. Now, you can sleep and shut up."
"Wow, how generous of you," Cassie quipped. "Do I have to bow to your Royal Highness to thank you for the gift you granted me? No, seriously, are you scared I'm gonna run off? 'Cause I won't, believe me. Well, maybe I will but don't worry, I won't get too far anyway. "
Anya took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and Cassie closed her mouth, silent. She dropped cross-legged to the ground, a respectable distance from the horse, which didn't even notice her. Anya then threw a piece of what she was holding in her hand at her.
Cassie brought it carefully to her nose, sniffing what she had received. A salty smell emanated from it. Puzzled, she bit into it, barely pulling a piece off. The food was dry, salty, and hard. But for Cassie, who had only known Ark's tasteless rations, it was a little piece of heaven that ended up in her stomach. She devoured her share without a word, to Anya's visible relief.
"Why are you like this?" The Grounder asked, sharpening a knife.
"You mean sexy? I took the Hot option in school and graduated ten out of ten at the age of eighteen."
"No," Anya replied, rolling her eyes angrily. "Why are you all white?"
Cassie looked down at her pale hands, her light hair falling in her eyes.
"Oh. You've never seen someone like me?"
Anya shook her head.
"Well, you see, as a kid, I was bored. So I decided to drink a bottle of bleach and then, boom! No more colors!"
Anya threw a new stone at her, which landed right on her forehead.
"You better stop playing with me if you don't want to bleed yourself out, slowly and painfully."
Cassie sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry, I was just joking. Alright then, I'm gonna tell you the truth. So, basically, I have a genetic condition that causes melanin deficiency. You know, the pigmentation of the skin and hair and all. So my body doesn't have any colors. It's called albinism."
"Are all your people like you? "
"Nope. I'm the only one on the Ark. There was another guy, fifty years ago, but that's all. It's very rare."
Anya didn't answer. She just stared into the fire without saying a word as Cassie watched her out of the corner of her eye.
"You know, some people hate me for it. Everytime they see something different, they're afraid, they reject different people. Just because they're not like them. Do you hate me because I'm different?"
Anya gave her a puzzled and questioning look.
"I hate you because you're an annoying stupid kid who can't stop talking. Your color, or, well, absence of color, has nothing to do with it."
"Okay, but like, even before I started talking, you took me prisoner. Why do you hate me?"
Anya was silent for a few more seconds, seeming to refuse to look at her.
"I have to take you back to my Commander. You have to talk about your people from the sky."
"Why?"
"Because," Anya growled.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Shut up, Skaigada. Shut up and sleep," Anya muttered as she lay down on the floor with her arms folded.
Cassie imitaded her, a little disturbed by the ties that bound her to the horse. She stretched out on the ground, her gaze fixed on the stars. For the first time in her life, they were far away. So far from her, impossible to reach.
"So, what does Skaigada means?"
"What is Trikru?"
"Shut up."
"Oh wait, I know!" Cassie exclaimed walking behind the horse. "'Kru' means crew, right? It's the name of a tribe. And, if we follow the same logic, then 'tri' means tree. You're from the forest, right? I'm a freaking genius!"
"What will it take for you to shut up?!" Anya exclaimed, exasperated.
"A lollipop! I've never had a lollipop! That would be cool!"
They were crossing the hills, the sun covered in gray clouds. Cassie walked behind Anya's horse, her hands still tied with the rope.
"Why can't you just shut up?! Is that too much to ask?"
"Bestie, I hate to tell you this, but I'm your prisoner, you're making me walk for miles through a land I don't even know, attached to a big-ass monster, no hard feelings, by the way, "she added in the direction of the horse. "And to a Commander for whatever reason, so excuse-me if I want to pass the time! Damn it, I just wanted to die!"
"Why did you want to die?" Anya asked.
Cassie bit her lip, staring at the floor and her walking feet. Anya glanced at her, half enjoying the silence.
"Reasons. I needed to."
"And now?"
"Oh, don't worry, I still do. I'm just following you because it's cool to annoy you."
Anya took a deep breath, as if holding back from tearing her head off.
"Consider yourself unlucky then, because I'm gonna make you live. That will be your punishment, Skaigapa."
"Punishment for what?"
"For being an annoying brat."
"Make sense. But I still don't understand why you hate me."
Anya didn't answer. Cassie searched for something to say, anything.
"Okay, alright," she decided. "Second deal. Three questions and I shut up. Deal?"
"Deal," Anya growled.
"Okay, cool. So, first question, who is your Commander?"
"Heda Lexa Kom Trikru. She's the Commander of all tribes."
"A woman? Awesome! Girl power!" She bawled at the sky, making Anya raise an eyebrow. "What? I'm a feminist."
Anya seemed to have no idea what she was talking about, but Cassie didn't care. She savored the news for a few more seconds, delighted.
"Okay, okay, second question. Who are you to your people?"
"I am a warrior. A leader. Lexa's former mentor," said Anya.
"Holy shit. Holy goddamn shit. You're ... A leader. Oh my God," Cassie stammered, her eyes wide.
That was new. And crazy. She was traveling with a leader, she was the prisoner of a super female leader!
"Last question," Anya announced, as if wanting to end it.
"Yeah, uhm, okay. So ... What are you gonna do with me?"
"Why do you care? You said you wanted to die."
"I'm the one asking the questions. And I would like an answer, please."
Anya let out another annoyed sigh.
"I don't know. The Commander will decide what to do with you. Usually, your people are killed. I don't know what she will do with you. I don't care."
"Why do you kill my people?"
"Again, that's a fourth question. Shut up now."