Ai Hod Yu In
Chapter 29
A/N: Hey guys! I had planned to get this out to you all a while ago, but unfortunately life got in the way a bit. It is a little longer though. Hopefully I will get the next chapter out in the next few days as well. Enjoy my lovely peoples and thank you to all of you for the love and support for this story!
"We gather here on this ascension day to honor the commanders that came before me, those who live on within me as I will live on within one of you," Lexa said to her novitiates. Clarke couldn't help but notice that she was looking at Aiden more than the others, which she supposed made sense when one considered that he was her most likely successor. Clarke herself held Madi in her arms, rocking the little one and smiling at her all the while. Perhaps she should have simply left the child in her room, but today of all days Clarke wanted to keep the child close to her. She heard shouting coming from outside the room.
A group of people entered the room, saying something angrily in the language that Clarke didn't quite speak fluently.
"Titus, what is this?" Lexa asked her flamekeeper, glancing to the side a bit to see him from her place on the throne.
"Something you need to hear, heda," Titus responded, leaning in close to Lexa. The door slammed shut to the room, and the last of the people came in, dragging Octavia with them. Lincoln himself followed behind them, also a prisoner but seemingly a calmer one than his girlfriend.
"Octavia," Clarke whispered to herself, clutching Madi closer if possible and taking a step forward. Octavia looked over at Clarke, and there was so much anger in her eyes that Clarke almost did a double take. One of the men, presumably the leader, once again murmured in their language. Lexa responded in turn, asking him why he was holding Octavia and Lincoln prisoner. Clarke almost did a double take as she heard the phrase prisoner of war. What had her people done this time? She definitely recognized crimes as well, and figured now might be the time to step in.
"What crimes? What happened?" she asked, walking a bit closer but still keeping a distance. She'd long since learned that a baby did not mean people were going to be gentle with you, and she didn't particularly want her daughter thrown around today.
"Skaikru attacked their village. Because their warriors were lost when your people massacred the army we had sent to protect you, their village was defenseless." Titus told her. Clarke took a moment to close her eyes and take a deep breath, wondering if this would be the day that Skaikru ended. Her people probably didn't even deserve Lexa's mercy anymore.
"Beja, heda. Ai beja jou daun. Kaujo sir cleen." the man told Lexa.
There were various shouts that echoed through the room. Looking around, Clarke wondered if all these people would demand her death as well. Clarke knew the ruling Lexa would have to make. How could she not? Lexa had been too lenient on her people already. This would likely be the final step in her people's destruction.
"Jus drein jus daun!"
"Wamplei kom Skaikru!"
There were shouts all over the chamber, and Titus called out something to them all in response. Clarke had to look at Lexa now, had to see the cold look in her eyes. She would have to avenge her people. Clarke made her way through the crowd, seeing Lexa rise from her thrown as well and begin to make her way out.
"You all will stay here while I consult my fleimkeepa and wanheda herself." Lexa called out to them. Once Clarke was out of the room, she stood and waited for Lexa and Titus to get through, making sure she herself was taking up the rear. She was grateful Lexa was allowing her to be a part of this conversation.
"How dare you bring this to me on Ascension day!" Lexa yelled, entering another room.
"I did not bring this here, Heda. You did. Against my advice, you made Skaikru the thirteenth clan. They rejected this, murdering hundreds of your people, and yet on the very field where they died, you decided to forgive the killers, but this provocation is proof. Blood must not have blood has failed. All that can stop this now is war." Titus ranted. Clarke kept her eyes trained on Lexa, her right hand rubbing soothing strokes up and down Madi's back in the sling.
"Clarke?" Lexa asked, walking closer.
"Clarke's opinion in this matter is not exactly unbiased." Titus pointed out. Clarke knew he was right.
"Titus is right. I would do anything to save my people. You know that, but I know them. Not everyone agrees with Chancellor Pike. Kane doesn't. Octavia doesn't. There has to be more people, too. Somebody had to have helped Lincoln. Last I knew, he was locked up in a cell in Arkadia. Kane would never have been able to get close enough to break him out. He said that he was under heavy surveillance." Clarke argued.
"Your people did not vote for Kane." Titus shouted. Clarke whirled around, turning from Lexa to Titus.
"Some of them did." she responded, glaring at him a bit. "We need to give them time to see that they made the wrong choice and fix it."
"And you believe your people will take them out themselves." Lexa realized. Clarke turned back to Lexa, hoping that Lexa could trust her one more time.
"If they don't, if instead they use this time to plan their next attack, we must act now, Heda." Clarke was surprised to realize that Titus was practically begging. Clarke could see the conflict this decision was bringing Lexa. All she wanted was to take this decision off her shoulders. Unfortunately, this decision was only Lexa's to make. "Make an example of the thirteenth clan. Show the other twelve what happens when they defy you. You got them back when you killed the ice queen, but the coalition is still fragile. If you don't act now-"
Lexa held up a hand in a motion to stop. She walked out of the room and back into the front of the rest. Clarke followed Lexa at a sedate pace. Lexa had chosen to reveal what she was doing in front of everyone. Clarke was simply trying to make peace no matter what the decision was.
"Today I call upon the armies of the 12 clans," Lexa said. Clarke looked at her sadly, resigned to the end of Skaikru. She was tired of fighting. If this was how her people were to end, perhaps it was better. At least no one else would be harmed by those in her clan that craved power above all else, "to march on Arkadia. Not to attack, but to contain. We will blockade the thirteenth clan. We will keep them from the lands they wish to possess. We will give them time to take out their leaders from within. Once they rise up against them, then we will welcome them back as one of us."
Clarke wasn't sure she had ever loved Lexa more than she did in this moment. She had listened. She had come up with a way to allow both their people to continue. If they weren't in a room filled with ambassadors from seperate clans, Clarke wasn't sure she would have been able to contain herself from kissing Lexa.
"You heard the commander. Send riders. Tell your armies to set up a buffer zone around Arkadia. Five miles should be enough to keep them away from our villages. What are their orders, heda?" Titus announced.
"Any Skaikru caught across the line will be subject to a kill order." Lexa announced.
"Heda, I do not understand. How is this vengeance?" the leader of the group of villagers asked, stepping forward and seeming to plead with Lexa.
"It is not vengeance, my brother. It is justice." Lexa told him gently.
"Skaikru killed my sons and my brother and my wife. If the spirit of the commander will not protect us, then what will?" the man screamed.
"You mind yourself, Semet." Titus said.
"Wamplei kom Heda!" the man screamed, grabbing a knife and charging at Lexa. Titus stepped in quickly, stopping the man and stabbing him with his own weapon.
"Blood must have blood." Titus said to Lexa.
