Chapter 15

Clarke stared at Lincoln. She was unsure what to say. She was unsure of what to do. She knew that if she told him the truth he would have no choice but to tell Lexa. It would put a bounty on her head already. She wasn't even title Wanheda, yet. She huffed and wondered what the best coarse of action to deal with this situation. She wasn't sure how Lincoln would react. Her blue eyes locked with Lincoln's dark eyes and held them. She decided that the truth was the best thing that she could give him. She would have to wait and see what he would do.

"Sha, ai laik natblida kom skai." (Yes, I am a night blood from the sky.)

"Are you going to tell Lexa?"

"No, not yet," Clarke answered.

"Why not?"

"Because I am not the only one," Clarke told him.

Lincoln squinted at her as he tried to figure out who else could be that was near her. It was then that he noticed that Octavia's hand was bandaged. He looked from the hand to Clarke. The blonde nodded softly. She watched as he looked around at the rest of them.

"Are there more?"

"I am not going to answer that. I have to protect us all from Lexa should she find out that we are natblidas, Linkon. I know that we wouldn't be expected to fight in the next conclave unless we were part of the Kongeda, but even Luna ran away from Polis. I will not subject anyone I love to that. I will not. So, I will not tell Lexa that I am a night blood until I have to, and neither will you. I don't want to hurt you, Linkon, but I will to protect my family. And, we might not look like much now, I will tell you this. Everyone on this ship is my sister or brother. I will burn the Earth to protect them all."

"I will not betray this to Lexa, Skaiprisa kom Skaikeyron. But, you need to tell her. If you don't, she can't help you against those that would use you."

"I know about Titus." Clarke replied to him, her voice full of venom and conviction.

"As do I, and I also know about his betrayals," Octavia added.

Lincoln looked at them both. He nodded. He could tell that they still knew more than they were telling even him. He didn't expect them to tell him everything and he understood it. He wouldn't either. But, he could also tell that Octavia liked him. He liked her, but he was afraid for her now that he knew that she was a night blood. He could see that both women were hardened by what they knew, and he knew that could if they wanted destroy everything that he loved. He didn't want that, and he could tell that they didn't either. They were just trying to protect their family and people.

"Sorry, for all this," Raven stated.

"It wasn't your fault. We just have to be careful when we're with the natives. Black bloods are revered and feared."

"You aren't going to rat her out?" Murphy asked him as he leaned forward at Lincoln menacingly.

At first Lincoln didn't say anything. Clarke realized that he might not understand their slang and usage of English, but then she saw him look at her. She gave him a slight nod and then he answered, "No, I'm not."

"Raven, we need to talk to the Ark. Get to work on that. I'll be by in a minute," Clarke told her. Holding her hand up, Clarke continued, "Don't worry about it. I'll deal with it. Just get me in touch with the Ark."

"Gotcha, Princess," Raven said and left their little group.

Clarke waited until she was gone before she turned back to the group. She knew that they were worried about her and Octavia now that Lincoln knew the truth about their blood. Clarke almost had to physically hold Murphy back from attacking him. She was amazed at how quickly he sided with her, but she hadn't given him a reason to not side with her.

"We aren't going to have a problem about this are we Lincoln?"

"No, Skaiprisa, we aren't. I will keep this secret for you," he replied quickly, knowing that she was having him say it aloud for the rest of her group. "You have no windows in this building. How do you tell time?"

Clarke smiled. He was doing as Lexa asked. He was trying to learn more about them.

"We have things that tell us time. Clocks and such, do you know of these things?" Clarke asked him.

He shook his head. Clarke knew that they had tinkers, but they didn't have mechanics. They may have found clocks and watches, but they wouldn't know how to repair them. And from what she'd seen of their jewelry and hair decorations, they used the cogs and gears from the watches and clocks for other uses. She beckoned him over and showed him her father's watch.

"It doesn't work anymore, but this once told is the time. It was separated into hours and minutes. Much like you mark your candles for the evening. This would tell us regardless of the sun or a candle, and it was accurate to the second veggie it broke," Clarke told him.

"If it doesn't work, why keep it?" he questioned.

"It's like a talisman for me. It was the last thing that my father gave me before he died. I keep it on his memory and to remind me what I'm fighting for. In the weeks to come, Raven will ask to fix it and I'll allow it. But for now, it helps me keep my father close," Clarke told him.

He nodded. She knew he understood. But she decided to take it a step further.

"If it helps, think of it like a braid for a fallen friend or family member," she stated add watched his eyes go wife in recognition.

Nodding profusely, he replied, "I understand why you keep it so close then."

"Yes," she said and the looked around the rest of the group. "Lincoln, if Octavia and I showed you a map. Could you help us locate some places. I want to make sure that I'm still understanding where we are in relation to other things."

He nodded. Clarke gave Octavia a look and the both moved to another part of the first floor. Octavia grabbed Clarke's pack and rifled through out until she found the map that had been stashed. It had only been brought out a few times and mostly to prove to Wells that they were on wrong mountain.

Octavia spread it out on the small surface that Clarke had been using as her desk, table, and instrument tray in the little corner that she'd made her clinic. With it spread out just wide enough to encompass the areas of TonDC, the drop ship, Mount Weather and most of Trikru, she saw the look of surprise in Lincoln's eyes as he took in the places they'd marked. Clarke and Octavia had already located several Trikru and even some Azgeda villages. She knew that he was looking at locations of Philpott Dam, the Dead Zone, even the location of an old solar farm. Clarke and Octavia had wanted to put as much information as they could on there. It was because they knew that they were against the clock with Praimfaya coming.

Every bunker that could be found was located, too. They would start sending out teams to locate them now that Raven was here. She would determine which were survivable, but first they had to deal with Mount Weather. But, to do that, she still had to convince Lexa that she spoke the truth and not go to war the Trikru. To do that, she needed more information from Lincoln as he gathered his intel for Lexa.

"Lincoln, I know that there is a lot of information on the map. Some of it you know and some of it you don't. Like me, you need information. I know that you think that we are some sort of spirits sent to help you all and I'll run with that for now. Can you help identify some more places? Places that you should know?" Clarke asked him.

"Sha, Skaiprisa, where?"

"When you speaking with Tris, you spoke of Belle. Where is Belle? Can you show me?" Clarke asked him.

Lincoln looked at the map again. He studied the locations that Clarke had marked. He pointed to a small valley between TonDC and where the drop ship was. It was closer to the drop ship than it would have been to Arkadia. She had her answers. This would have been the village that they destroyed by accident with the rockets to tell the Ark that they were alive. They couldn't fire the rockets.

"It was the village that the rockets hit, O. It has to be."

"Well, Raven didn't shoot them. We have the radio. So, now all we need to do is get in touch with the Ark to see if we can possibly save three hundred souls by tomorrow."

"You know that we won't."

"I know, but it can be a hope, right? We are ahead of the game this time. Maybe we get lucky."

"And, maybe saving them causes more issues that we don't know about with the Ark," Clark countered. "But, it would be nice to know that some of them made it to the ground before they died, yeah?"

"Hey, we're going to save as many as we can. We get a larger number every time. We know that we can't save everyone, but we still do our damnedest. Don't every forget that, ai Wanheda."

"OCTAVIA!" Clarke hissed.

Octavia had the decency to look properly scolded, but it was the look on Lincoln's face that said it all. They both knew that he knew what at least what Octavia had insinuated who Clarke was with the last phrase. Clarke didn't want to take up that mantle, but it always seemed to be inevitable. She didn't like it, but it happened. She would own the moniker if she had to, but she would always wait for the Grounders to call her that. She never came out and used it. She couldn't, because then she would have to prove it and herself. She didn't want to kill anyone, but she knew that some, like Lincoln, didn't think that it meant that she just commanded who would die or kill them herself. No, people who were like Lincoln, who wanted peace but understood war was a necessary evil, thought that she could also keep death away. She herself could become a talisman. There had even been rumors that she could bring back a man from death. It was all speculation and misunderstood medicine. She's saved Lincoln from being a Reaper. She could heal men on the edge of death. Being a healer gave Wanheda a new lease on the title. She would fight Death itself to help her people if she had to, but Lincoln didn't know that. At least not yet. He barely knew anything about them.

"Go check on everyone and get me another head count," Clarke demanded.

Octavia nodded, gave a fist to the chest in salute, and then ran away. It was obvious that she didn't want to be there to clean the mess she'd just made. But, the more that Clarke thought about the title and the mysticism surrounding it, the more she wondered if she shouldn't use it. There was only one way to find out.

"I will not tell Lexa about you, Skaikeyron. It wouldn't matter anyway. She wouldn't believe me."

"And, if she would believe you, Linkon, what would you tell her?" Clarke asked him.

"I would tell her that Keyron sent you and your people from the Skai. I believe that you hold great power for someone so young. You have an old soul, like heda. You speak like her sometimes, too. You know things about our people and this world that you should not, because I can't explain it."

"Anything else?"

"Your map," he started.

"What about it?"

"You landed here, but your map didn't have any information beyond what the people took with them to the stars. However, I know you haven't gone more than a few miles in hikes and hunts, but still you have lines drawn for territorial divisions between the clans. You have villages and landmarks. There are other items that I know nothing about but you've deemed the worthy to be notated."

"Yes, I do."

"But, you didn't have Belle. It seems odd to me. You knew Anya. You know who Lexa is, but you didn't know Belle. When I showed you where it was, you immediately said something to Oktevia. It is like you were worried about the village."

"I was."

"But you aren't now?" he asked her.

"No, I'm not. Belle will not fall. It will stand just as Anya will continue to stand by Lexa's side."

"You've seen the fall of Belle before?"

"I have," Clarke answered. "And, many others."

"Keyron has blessed you with sight?"

"I don't know if you would call it sight beyond what anyone can normally see, but I do have some knowledge on things to come. Some of which I want to change, and some...some that I know I can't. Like with you Linkon," Clarke told him. "You care for Oktevia. Don't worry, though. She already knows and returns your affections. But, like me, she is special, not only to me but to our people. She is our only true gona. She is my wormana."

"Is that why you asked for me to be a liaison between our people?" Lincoln questioned.

"It is one. You care for each other and I appreciate that. I hope that you can get bonded and have a long life together, but I know that we have to prove ourselves worthy to Heda. I have no doubt that she'll be looking for us soon and question why we didn't warn her about the fog since I know things. But, it doesn't matter. I will still take down the Mountain with or without Heda's armies. I just hope that it is with," Clarke said.

She looked around the drop ship and realized that most everyone was asleep. It would be the easiest thing for the all to do for now. If they slept, by the time they were all awake again, the fog would be gone and they could leave the drop ship. It was a good idea for her to turn in for the night, but she wanted to check in with Raven first. She knew that Octavia would find her soon enough with her headcount.

"Get some sleep, Lincoln. The next few days are going to be long before the storm. And, we'll need all the muscle we can get."

"Sha, Skaiprisa kom Skaikeyron."

Clarke waved him off as she left the little clinic area. She knew that it was rude, but it was getting late. She needed to go see Raven and she needed to make sure that her counts were right.

"Everyone is accounted for except Trina and Pascal," Octavia told her.

"Go to Lincoln. Get some sleep. Be good and keep your mouth shut, huh?"

"No promises, but I'll try not to spill anymore secrets."

"I appreciate it," Clarke said as she gave Octavia's a shoulder squeeze.

"Don't stay up too late, Clarke. Tris will be by in the morning. We need to make sure that Lincoln doesn't tip her off too much."

"That's your job now, ai sekken," Clarke replied as she walked away and looked over and Murphy.

He was watching her, and she knew why. He was trying to protect her because he still saw her as his ticket to freedom. He would protect her because she was taking care of him. He didn't have a shit job and it was one he liked. He had power and minions, and he knew that he'd lose all that should something happen to her. Bellamy wasn't exactly his bosom buddy. She pointed to Raven and he nodded. She gave him a small smile, before turning and closing her eyes. Taking a second to center herself, Clarke tried to prepare herself for what was to come. Especially if Raven got through and she had to talk to her mother. She shook it off and wondered where she was going find a place to bed down for the evening after she checked on Raven and the radio.

She knew that the night was going to be long, but she hoped that they would be able to get through to the Ark before they opened the doors to the morning. She moved across the bottom level of the drop ship to Raven's little radio corner. There were some makeshift stools there. She wasn't sure who or when they were made, but she was thankful for them as she sat down beside Raven.

"Ark Station this is Ark Pod, do you read me?" Raven tried as she turned the dial to lock into the main Ark Station radio frequency.

Raven kept moving the dial. Clarke could hear the static as she roamed over the frequencies. She would stop periodically and then call out over the radio again. She could hear things, and they both knew that it was the Ark. Raven pulled out some tools from her bag and began to tweak things. She just hoped that she had enough juice from the pod to boost the signal just enough.

"You know that they are planning on killing three hundred tomorrow if we don't get through to them," Raven said, nonchalantly, as she moved under the makeshift table that the radio was on.

"I do."

"Does that happen every time?" Raven asked as she laid down under the table, tools in hand as she played in the panel on the side of the drop ship.

Clarke backed up and looked down at her. Raven peered up and over her body at Clarke. Her eyes were dark and questioning. Clarke couldn't help but stare at her. She gave Raven a tight lipped grin before just nodding. There was nothing else to say. She knew that Raven would ask questions like that from now on until Clarke changed things enough that she didn't have an answer for her. And, Clarke really hoped that day came.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you something," Raven told her as she dropped her head and went back to playing with her wires.

"Yeah?"

"Your Mom stole some medical stuff and dropped it in my bad. I think she hoped that you wouldn't need it, but she knew that you didn't have anything. Guess she thought it was better than nothing. It was all lightweight and didn't take up a lot of room. Just thought you should know that," Raven told her.

"Like what?" Clarke asked her.

"I don't know. I'm not the doc. You two are. I'm a mechanic, remember? Thought you were brilliant from your Mom told me," Raven quipped as she went back to work trying to amplify and boost the signal from their end.

"Where's your bag?"

"Next to the table."

Clarke grabbed it and opened it. She didn't want to rifle through it, but she decided that it would be the best thing for her to find whatever her mother had hidden inside the bag. When she got into the inner pocket of the bag, she realized that her mother was the one that really packed the bag. Hanging from a loop was the chain that her mother wore around her neck, the chain that held both her mother and her father's wedding rings, a chain that Abigail Griffin would never part with unless she was planning on dying. She dug a little deeper and found intravenous catheters, tubing and empty blood bags. Clarke looked up and looked over at Raven.

"Did the pod have a refrigeration unit on it?"

"No, why?" Raven said as she sat up to look at a shocked Clarke. "What am I missing?"

"Did my Mom say anything else to you before she told you launch?"

"Something about banking for savings or something like that. Honestly, I was too busy trying to get the hell out of there before they stopped me. Sorry, I wasn't paying as close attention to her as I should have been. I was too worried about the countdown procedures to launch."

"Raven, get me in touch with my mother, now!"