12 - Messages to and from the gods
Luna looked out to see the clouds rising up from her perch on the old oil rig she called home. The sanctuary that she and the others who lived here were coming under attack. This was caused by a foe that was not human, but a disease.
The slow rash of sickness was spreading from person to person. Since the clouds had started to move over her home with their rains several had started to fall ill including herself. That was when she heard the sound of her adopted daughter coughing.
Luna felt her heart sink another level lower into a Hell she had wished never to experience again.
"Mother my hair is coming out." Luna froze in fear as every fiber of her being tore at her soul as she saw her adopted daughter Adria holding handfuls of her hair. The sickness was getting worse and it was spreading. Luna's own child was nearing the point where the sickness had started to claim lives. Whatever this illness was... She needed to seek out a healer... In the name of Water goddess Augwa... Luna prayed... Don't take another member of my family.
Not like Boo... to that demon.
Not like her late brother Gaius through some needless ritual sacrifice.
"Adria..." Luna swallowed hard. "We have to head to the mainland for help." Luna moved to touch her daughter's face as she started to cry. Then Luna started to cough and it scared her to her soul.
Augwa... are you punishing me for not taking the Flame? Not for listening to Klark of the Sky People about the threat that was coming. Please answer me?
The sea crashed in noncompliance to Luna's pleas as what needed to be said wasn't in its place to say.
Luna was faced to tell her people that to save them, they had return to the very land that had brought them so much pain.
Emori was shifting some under the weight of a borrowed Skaikru jacket. Emori had always been a little skittish around large numbers of people, but Skaikru... Especially the Delinquents... the Hundred seemed to respect her. Her occasional stealing was tolerated, but they were not angry at her.
The things she stole were not vital, but in her view were important in her attempts to figure out her place among this group. Occasionally one of the Skaikru Warriors would take a look at her. At first she thought it was due to her being a Frikdreina, but it was something else. Walking around she started to sense they were not looking at her hands, but at her. Even with her small collection of stolen items it was as if...
Emori stopped cold.
Stolen items... Emori's thieving ways was what they were wary of... Not her.
The only reason that they left her alone was the fact that probably Murphy had told them about some of her early life.
Having to steal to survive.
The only time Skaikru had gotten angry at her was when she had stolen that golden tipped cable.
It must have been connected to something really important.
Putting it back...Must have gotten some...
Tech...
It was part of their tech. Gold wiring must have been used as part of their tech for controlling something...
It must have made something important function.
Something that was still working in this fallen Sky Ship.
That was covered in Gold!
Lots of GOLD!
They had a treasure... All she needed was to find it.
Emori quickly retraced her steps to where she had stolen that single cable from. It was like tracing it way through vines in a forest, but she had found where it had been connected. Then seeing the large box it had been attached to, Emori started to follow where the rest of these cable vines went.
Skaikru's treasure must have been hidden in plain sight. She must have walked past it several times without realizing it. Hiding in plain sight. Oh... talk about cunning.
Emori started to trace the wires throughout the ship. Some went along hallways, some into closets and under the floor. Emori followed until she hit a room with a lot of tech in it.
Emori stopped.
Monty of Skaikru was working on some tech gear as he started to put pieces of some bracelet together. Emori watched as he sighed. Then he connected the bracelet to some tablet and started to tap on it.
"Reboot number fifteen on BioBand One-Hundred Twelve." Monty spoke as he watched something play out on the tech tablet. There was a beep and he unhooked the bracelet and placed it into a box next to him. The box was filled with several of these strange bracelets nearly to overflowing.
With that Monty got up and stretched and sighed as he looked at a pile of bracelets that were to be assembled.
"One apprentice engineer... one box a smashed bio-bracelets... yeah..." Monty looked at the work that he needed to get done and realized that his day was over. "Harper... I hope that I don't fall asleep on you during sex tonight." Monty moved and covered the boxes before turning off the light and heading out of the door.
Emori saw her chance as she moved back into the room.
Pulling out a small electric hand torch she had scored during one of her earlier explorations, she ignited it. Its light shown around the now darkened room like the sun poking its way through the clouds of a stormy sea.
No gold so far, but whatever this tech was... there were a lot of these cables running into here.
Emori moved over to where Monty had been crafting these bracelets, and saw there was a lot of wire and magnifiers around. Emori glanced over at the completed pile box and took note the number in there. Though not gold, these bracelets seemed to been deemed important. Picking one up, Emori took note of it as its simple form highlighted some grand purpose.
Seeing a clasps on the bracelet, Emori fudged it open.
What Emori saw caught her attention.
The inside of this thing was lined in tech.
A circular section at the top of the bracelet seemed to be made to lay across one's skin.
Segments on the inner part of the damn thing seemed like it was made to be soft and with all of the wires (which were copper and not gold) indicated that this was part of placing tech on one's body.
Maybe this tech was like some of the cards that had been used in the city of light. Some had been used as money while others had been used as keys. Emori had seen some of the bracelets used the same way, especially with some of the ones that Skaikru had used while they were walking around in that cursed place.
If it may have worked there, then maybe Skaikru might be using it here as a means to keep things locked up.
If she took one of these key bracelets, then maybe she could find their treasure here. Looking into the box she moved through the pile to see one that wouldn't be missed... well unless they did a count of them. Given that Monty was more interested in getting them fixed, then maybe she had some time before her crime got noticed.
Picking one out of the box, Emori saw one that felt like her... Well, felt perfect in her eyes given their similar appearance to the others, but the scratches and dents on it screamed her.
But what wrist to place it on?
Emori tended to let people see her good hand, but her "Bad Ass" hand... Emori kept covered up. The hand she kept hidden or the one that everyone would see. They wouldn't think twice to check her good left hand. Though if she messed up, they would take notice of it if her clothing got pulled back.
Bad Ass hand it was.
If caught... she would just say it was a gift from Monty or some other Skaikru member.
Feeling the clasp she moved to place it on and moved to close it.
The bracelet chirped as it went active, which made Emori jump. Then there was a low pulse from it as it started to move with her pulse. The bracelet felt alive as it synced with Emori's body. Emori got up from the chair that Monty had been sitting at and left to find her treasure.
As Emori closed the door, the small computer tablet sprang to life. On its screen, it was receiving the information from the bracelet. Performing a photo genetic scan of her cells, it pulled up known genetic markers within the human genome and built a composite female image made up of Caucasian, Indian/South Asian and Portuguese descent. With further detailed pulled out some medical history, the picture was flushed out.
On the screen shown a woman, without any Kru marks or scars on her body.
But the image was close enough for anyone to realize it was Emori.
File #: 3040011
Name: Unknown
Gender: Female
Age: 18 -21 years est.
Station: Unknown
Crime: Unknown
Medical Profile:
Chimeric hybrid profile detected.
Non-Cancerous tissue.
Healthy Cell Structure.
Note:
Advanced Hormone levels detected -
Secondary neonatal heartbeat detected -
Subject is in First Trimester!
Radiation Readings: Hazardous -
Urgent recommendation that subject to be given emergency iodine treatment to protect pituitary system of unborn child.
The Boat Trip to the shore was the hardest Journey that Luna had taken in a long time.
So far she had to send back to the Sea Mother twelve souls so far and that was before they even left the Rig that they had called home.
Luna thought back to the conversation the Skaikru warrior Bellamy and Klark the Wanheda tried to tell her:
"Luna, let us explain." Klark spoke to her trying to plead her case towards Luna.
"I said no." Luna had spoken.
"No you need to hear this." Bellamy of Skaikru tried to order her to understand. Luna had stood her ground of not wanting violence to come to her people by given them silence. "There is something out there that is going to destroy us all." Luna just looked at the Skaikru warrior thinking no force could come to her home.
"Whatever it is, it can't reach us here." Those last words now haunted Luna now.
The people of Skaikru were not talking about an invading force.
They were talking about something worse that was on its way to her home.
Did those Demons that had come into her home leave something behind that now was working to slowly kill them?
It if was...
Luna saw Adria groan.
The demons had come to her home.
They had already struck, and like a slowly bleeding wound they were now feeling the effects as they were slowly dying from the wound they had received.
Luna moved to her daughter and now understood the warning Skaikru was trying to warn her about.
This was a foe that was going to kill her and her people just for being in its line of sight. Additionally they were seen as a potential threat to be eliminated because they had a Nightblood in their midst and Luna hoped that they were not being made as an example to the other kru of the land that if you resisted the demons, you would lose.
Luna turned to see that there was a mother grieving.
The demons had claimed their Thirteenth victim.
Luna spoke a prayer to the Sea Mother... then to any other god or goddess that would hear her pleas.
Even to the unnamed god that the Skaikru worshiped to give what remained of her people the strength to survive.
Nyko had gotten word from a Trikru trader that several villages of Floukru Fishermen had gotten sick over the last few days. It was said that the only thing they had common was that they either had come into contact with the recent rain storms, or that they had eaten from their recent catch. Some of the cases needed to be treated by Abbi because of the severity, He could treat the lighter effects of the sickness with the knowledge he had learned to lessen the poison's effects, but some... they would be passing into the next world.
Given that the smoke from the burning poisoned buildings had hit the level of the clouds wasn't good given the current rate of the spread of the sickness.
If this ash was now getting into the fish... Nyko shuddered at the further damage that was going to take place when it hit the rest of the animals in the food chain when the storm season started to set in with the spring weather.
Skaikru was racing against time in making the medicines they needed to combat this crisis. Even with the shelters... it would take years for the toxins to be flushed from the lands. The Red Witch Alie was evil in ways that knew no bounds. Even Demons lived by a code.
She was evil that even the lords of the underworld could not comprehend.
Even in defeat, Alie's name would be known.
Now as he road along the shore, the world was feeling a bit darker and it wasn't due to the clouds. Nyko had started to hear the sound of the insects growing less and less present during his ride. If those animals were starting to die... Then this was bad. The birds, and frogs would be next, then the fish, then the larger animals. Bears, wolves, foxes, starving, driven mad for food, would be attacking anything moving to eat.
Nyko had heard the legends of the first Praimfaya as a child. The long winter that had taken place afterwards was known. The level of death that was spoken of related the years of blight and death. Where cannibalism was almost common until Bekka put a stop to it. Rags, gravel, water, seeds, placed into tubes to make food grow. Nyko would have laughed at that image until he saw how Skaikru grew some of their crops. Now for the next few months or maybe years... they would have to live that way.
Maybe Lincoln was right... Skaikru needed to discover who they were in this land, losing some of their hardness, but also becoming part of nature to expand their view of this world in which they now lived. Abbi had proven to be a respected healer, but when she spent her time learning his healing knowledge, she was his student. Conversely, he was hers when it came to anatomy of treatment some ailments that he had thought non-curable. It was a dialogue, each sharing their knowledge. In the end they seemed to have rediscovered the lost knowledge of both of their people's. Now that shared knowledge was needed to fight this threat before them.
Off in the distance the sound of an old combustion engine was coming his way. On the vessel's side was the clear image of the Floukru crest. Nyko recognized the vessel immediately as this one boat belonged to a single village that he had come across during his travels: Luna's...
The boat was slowly approaching the shore as several individuals were standing near the edge of the vessel speaking.
"We come from Water... In the End we return to water. Today... we..." It was Luna's voice and there was a level of pain to it that he had never heard before.
"Today... we return our sister to the water from which she came." The voice was of a child, who coughed at the end of it.
"Thank you Adria..."
"Mommy... Mind that I help finish the ritual?" Nyko knew that this was something major if Luna was here.
"Okay... Today we return our sister and my friend Gwen back to the Sea Mother. Though sickness has claimed her body, it did not claim her spirit or her soul. May the Fisher of men and women watch over your journey from this world and into the next as you journey back into the accepting arms of Mother Water, Augwa." There was silence as glasses held up in the air and water poured onto the deck of the ship they were on and upon the small body that was on the plank hanging over the edge of the ship.
"May we see you in the next world Gwen." Luna spoke as she helped lift the child's body and instead of tilting over the edge of the ship, moved and carried the child's body to the rear landing of the ship and motherly placed the child's body into the water. The young girl who had spoken the last bit of the ritual came over to Luna and comforted the Floukru leader. After the child's body had slowly descended under the waves the boat slowly started to make its trip to the shore.
Whatever was happening was significant because Luna wouldn't leave her metal island home unless it was something of... When the boat approached the shore and the dissent plank was pulled over the side, Nyko got his answer.
Luna and several of her kru had the markings of the sickness that was spreading over the land.
Nyko got off his horse and announced himself.
The look of worry on Luna's face spoke volumes as Luna stated her situation.
"I am Luna of Floukru... These people are the last of my village. Please help us."
Nyko knew that not all before him would survive the journey. But he knew that only if a few lived, it was a victory.
"I will help. But we must head to the Skaikru... Now... Abbi... please, I pray that you have enough of your healing potions to treat these people." Nyko moved to place three of the weakest on his horse before leading this group onto the trail from which he had come.
Ontari was looking at one of Clarke's old Maps of Mount Weather. It was strange seeing the design of it. To see the levels and design of it being so detailed and practical for the purpose it had. Each level was done as a cavern or underground room that was connected with stairways and tunnels that went from the various structures in the mountain to the outside.
How much the Mountkru had expanded on the preexisting shelter from its original design made her think of what might take place over the next few years if the recent research that Becca had given them panned out. This wasn't just a long winter they were going to be facing, it was one that was going to last a year or two. She knew that people were going to have to expand some of these places to compensate for the growth of the contained population or the need to expand out because of some other unforeseen need.
Shane of Skaikru's weather data from the Ark said so.
The damn storms had come together in a perfect 150 year weather cycle to throw the environment into a mess.
Skaikru had readied for these storms before the mess with Alie to guard their equipment from harm. The storm wouldn't affect people, but the tech... It would hurt, and anyone close to it.
But what about those who had taken Alie's tech, like herself and the other former members of Alie's cult?
Would the Flame be protected from harm?
Would what she saw in the test Abbi had done on the pig, when they put a low powered chip into its head so they could do a simulated solar storm on it to see what would potentially happen.
Ontari was scared to her core as she remembered the outcome from the test that had been performed.
The poor animal had screamed in pain before its heart gave out.
Parts of the structure would have be reinforced to deal with this new phenomenon.
People started to sense the mood as more resources had started to be place into bunker work as well as the work on making the fermenters to create Bekka's hybrid Nightblood formula.
In the next day or so, Ontari would be donating her pint of bone marrow from her hip. So far Augustine, Marietta, Kalakaska, had given their pints for the potion mix. It had taken a day for each one given that they had go slow to prevent the type of trauma that Raven had gone through at the hands of the Mountain Men.
Seeing Harper look over at her and grin, helped soothe her fears. The Skaikru warrior seemed to like her. Warrior hair braids and headband, and just girl talk.
Both girls seemed to have respect for their weapons and talked while they cleaned them.
Ontari's sword Ulfberht, or as Harper called the sword Burt.
Harper's rifle Em'syxt'ty or as Ontari had called it Styxs. Though that wasn't the only weapon Harper had on her, there were two others, Glock a small personal firearm, and a short Rifle that she carried on her daily patrols named Ache Kay.
But it was Em'syxt'ty Harper saw as her baby, as it was her trophy from the capturing it from the Mountain Men. It was the rifle equivalent of a Long Sword. Complicated, violent, hefty, mean, yet with a personality that Harper understood. The weapon liked her. It would help her slaughter all her foes before her with accuracy and fire.
It was an army killer.
Harper had fought the warrior who had been its original owner and taken it from him. Made it obey her by touching it right, it had liked her as it wouldn't shoot her. She had used the weapon's hilt to bash in its former owner skull before using it to free her friends from the mountain.
One shot, one kill.
Sixty shots at her disposal... Harper made each one count.
Ontari was impressed with this.
But it was Harper's own curiosity about Ontari's own blade that had made the two talk.
Ulfberht, a blade forged from ancient design, metal, bone and glass, made Harper respect the weapon.
As Ontari had told the story of her blade, there was respect forged in understanding that though the blade was a gift... it showed the artistic skill that some warriors liked to have placed upon their blades.
For Harper it was almost magic to see the skill placed upon an item such as this.
For Skaikru, their weapons were made to be efficient, clean, no individuality. Interchangeable, multi-function and heavily salvageable.
Ontari had seen one of Skaikru's combat axes, and the damn thing though small... was a item to be reckoned with. Weight cut out of its head to make it lighter and to strengthen it like crazy. Balance... Most knives were heavier on one end, but that damn thing could be swung or thrown with the accuracy of a blade half its weight.
Ontari's storytelling help take their minds off of the coming storms coming their way.
Perfect Storms like Sandy or the No-Name.
No-Name... who would name a character in a book that?
Well if you were an Assassin... It worked.
"He was slain by No-name." Ontari thought out the possible line in the book to which that would show up.
That brief levity cheered her up some, but the matters of the world brought her back to the here and now.
Twenty-six storms, each linked to the oncoming solar wind event they were in the middle of. Each storm was migrating their way like damn birds and fish, each of these storms had been named in accordance to some ancient Floukru tradition that Skaikru had adopted during their exile from the Mother Earth. These names and the tradition of naming them she was trying to understand so that she didn't look like a fool when she had to explain it to the citizens of Polis. But given where Skaikru's villages had been originally, maybe sending word to the Floukru was their way to ensure some trade deal with them in the future.
So far they were on Khaleesi.
Khaleesi... A popular girl's name from long ago and also the name of some queen of some far-off land.
From the readings, the storm had died up off the coast of a place called Maine.
That wasn't the only bad news. Throw in the rest of the weather crap: A Mini-Ice Age coming up combined with a loss of Ozone in the upper sky which would be deadly to plants if significant cloud cover didn't last over some places.
Clouds deep with rain were going to kill the land, but only deep cloud cover would protect it from harm. The only hope was that if the ash from the burning building had enough carbon in it to turn the rain to acid so that the land would be saved. Yes it would be black rain, but it would be the only way to destroy the toxic radiation.
Ontari had seen the map of the previous storm migration from the past few years with their rough start and end dates, and it as Murphy stated: "It sucked." If one crisis didn't kill them another would.
So far they needed to configure sections of these bunkers to protect against the upcoming solar surge, or many people would die or be driven mad by the effects of this on their system.
Copper masks would help keep out the damage, but to be stuck like that for years until the storm passed... was frightening.
Clarke's map of the old shelter showed that the Mountain Men had also dealt with this problem.
As more maps were being created and brought in, Ontari and the other members of the Coalition were sorting through which villages would be heading to what shelters.
Clarke had done a good job in sorting through the population census that Lexa had ordered after the events of Mount Weather.
Ontari may have hated her predecessor at times, but in this situation Lexa was thinking ahead and was lucky that this bit of information was going to be useful. Ontari hoped that the shelter information would be her contribution to saving all of the Kru of these lands.
The last thing Ontari wanted to be remembered for as being the one who nearly destroyed the world.
Turning to see Emori walk through the large central hall of Arkada as she headed to the kitchen made her think of her and Jasper's own relationship. Emori was a Chimera... not a Freakdrrina and in some of the Skaikru legends Ontari was able to learn of Chimera's were seen as a sign of Fertility among them. Emori's deformed hand was a result of her not getting medical treatment as a child to treat the bone fusion that had taken place in her hand. Ontari had looked through one of Abbi's medical texts and found that Emori's hand would have needed just a simple cutting of the flesh between her fingers and a chisel to break the connections between the fused bones and Emori would have led a normal life. At her age now, the damage was irreversible in undoing it, but as a symbol of fertility... Emori was up there next to the Venus mother Emma. Though the entire sex thing with Murphy was a bit of sticking point between them. However Emori wanted a smooth break from her and Murphy. Ontari agreed. Ontari had Jasper now and Emori had her man Murphy... Prince of the Rebels.
Shit... Ontari needed to feel something other than loss and being tired given the last few nights. Between the few times she was able to "Fuck the Pain away" with Jasper between her legs. She wanted to become a better person. Maybe one day she would become a Mother of a child. Ontari wanted to be known as a person though flawed, was one person that was doing her best to be a leader that was respected by her actions from this day forward. Not by the circumstances of her past.
There was a sense that she was shaping a better world for her people, and that didn't just mean the Ice Nation.
Ontari was glad that she was learning to become a healer... The size of her sword had changed but the raw battle experience she was learning... No wonder Wanheda was a force to be reckoned with.
A battlefield was a battlefield no matter what its size was.
That was when a call came over the speakers.
"We need some medical help at the front gate. Looks like we got some sick people there."
Murphy was working in the kitchen. This was a world he liked being in. Spices, herbs, meats, vegetables, oils and rubs. Mostly. He was doing something that was being helpful. Yeah, Murphy could be doing other things, but this was what he felt comfortable with as it kept him out of trouble and the paths of incessant Commanders and Politicians.
Given the mess that the previous Flamekeepers had left in their wake... Murphy was lying low. Mostly it was his way to let Ontari, Clarke, and Roan work out the politics of what to do next. Yeah... he had knowledge, but mostly he wanted to make sure that people didn't see him as a threat. So being on cooking detail, was a good compromise. It allowed him to use the skills that he had learned here on the ground as well back on the Ark before he had been incarcerated.
Emori liked how he cooked. But since last night, Emori seemed to be preoccupied with something. Her Kleptomaniac thievery was getting bad at times, but it would be manageable if he helped guide it some. That was when Monty showed up holding a computer tablet.
"Murphy..." the young Agro station tech spoke as he moved into the kitchen area. "How are you and Emori doing?"
Between the stew he was working on, he was in the process of chopping the vegetables. A good pair of chain mesh gloves was a good thing to have given the sheer volume he was working with. Having bought a pair from a Floukru merchant while he had been in Polis had come in handy given the number of times it had saved his fingers so far today.
Monty wasn't into your standard chit chat, but the tone of his voice sounded important as Emori came up.
Monty shifted some as he looked down at the tablet. Then back to Emori.
"Monty... what is going on? Got some prank planned with Jasper?" Murphy spoke as Monty cleared his throat.
"Not exactly... John... did you score one of the old monitor bracelets that we used to wear when we came down?"
"Why are you asking?" This is when Emori approached. The band on her gloved hand spoke that though concealed it was close to her skin. Murphy saw the bracelet on Emori's wrist as she slyly snaked around him.
"How is my Ramsey doing?" Emori spoke was she saw Monty looking at her.
"Good... Monty..." Murphy looked over to see that young tech was reaching over to hand some salt to him. "Why are you asking if Emori should have a bracelet?"
"Because... John..." Monty shifted as he changed his approach to the situation. "Remember Phoenix who came down with us?" Murphy remembered the girl who had been part of that original group of delinquents. She tended to stick near Clarke and some of the gathers that were near camp. Other than that, her boyfriend Wolf was one of the Gunners under Belliamy's command.
"Yeah... I remember the girl." Murphy spoke as Emori glared the look of: Not another wench you have slept with John, do I have to hurt you now! Murphy was doing his best not to get castrated by the woman he loved as he cleared his throat and motioned for Monty to continue.
"Well... The readings I am getting off of Emori's bracelet match her's... I mean... match her's in what she was when we landed." Murphy looked concerned. In the weeks he had been back Phoenix had not been seen. There had been stories that she and her... Murphy's brain stopped cold. Phoenix had been pregnant, the image of her ever growing rounded belly slammed into his brain with the force of a Grounder Anvil being flung through the air to crush its foes via catapult.
Phoenix had left Arkada with her baby when Pike came to power. There were rumors that she had headed to TonDC or Polis to raise her child in peace. Since Wolf's death and the constant political messes, Phoenix just wanted to live in peace with her child. Now looking at how Monty was talking... Murphy had to start talking... just to make sense of it and to pull himself back to reality.
"Wait... you mean... that Emori..." Monty handed Murphy the tablet with the image of a non-scared and tattooed free face that was on the screen.
The unknown personal information Monty hadn't filled in, but the medical warning information hit John Murphy in the gut.
He was going to be a father...
Emori was going to be a mother.
A round belly mother with his child.
He and Emori were going to be parents!
Monty wasn't handing him the salt shaker as a hint to season the food.
Monty was handing it to him to give to Emori to protect their child. The blinking warning only emphasized the weight of the situation to him.
Boosting the iodine levels in her body so that their child would hopefully not endure the curse of being a Freakdrrina.
Ever since Murphy had lost Emori to Alie's cult all those weeks ago, only to get her back at such a high cost, he had not been that scared till that moment.
Had his father felt this way when he made the decision he did to steal the medicine to save his life?
Then another blow took place that was far worse than anything that Titus had thrown at him.
When the P.A system went off with an announcement.
Murphy realized that he now had two people to protect now. Emori and their unborn child. The two most precious treasures he had in this world.
Clarke was sprinting through the hallways of Arkada next to her mother after they had heard the call over the P.A system. Jackson was back in the medical bay prepping it for new arrivals. For the last few days, they had been slowly moving the more able bodied individuals out of the infirmary. Some of the people that were still around were the ones that had been the most injured from Alie. It would take time for them to leave, but some... it was a wait and see if the damage done to them was irreversible.
Abby had used her connection through Nyko to get some of the more traditional healing herbs and compounds she needed to supplement their medical supplies.
Even Jasper and the other chemists in Arkada were working hard to make the meds she needed.
Ontari at times worked at the grinding the needed items when she wasn't fulfilling her duties.
Maybe it was the fact that she had brought this mess into Polis and the rest of the Nations she was going to be leading that had forced this change. Passing into the main hall Ontari turned to look at them as she started to place several heavy cups, books and stones on the documents she had been working on. So far Ontari had been looking over some of the old maps Clarke had done of Mount Weather to get a sense of some of the structures that the people she and her people were going to be living in over the next few months. But there was a sense that Ontari was becoming a leader that was respected for her skills in this crisis. A field medic... well... she was getting there. Maybe because of the events that had taken place during their trip to the Singularity to speak with Bekka and the other Commanders Ontari seemed to have thrown herself into her studies as a healer.
But the conversation that Ontari had with Lexa still chewed at the back of her mind, but Clarke understood that Ontari would come to her when it was time. Though the Ice Nation/Trikru woman Emma seemed to be the key to solving this problem as Ontari seemed to have let her in on something in relation of this.
Ontari turned and moved to join them as the three women headed out of the door followed by Murphy who seemed to almost be on the offensive.
Something had placed a fire under his ass and whatever had come up looked to have scared the crap out of him.
Heading to the main gate of Arkada Clarke got a good look at the number of guards surrounding it.
Approaching the gate, they saw Nyko with a group of very sick people.
The Guard on duty didn't know Nyko was a friend, but considering that the healer had his hands full trying to keep a young woman standing as she was struggling to keep moving.
"Do not come any closer." the guard spoke as he was trying his best to control the situation.
"Please. They need Skaikru medicine." Nyko called out as he realized that this member of Skaikru was scared witless and the last thing they wanted as someone being shot dead by accident.
"Move. Stand back." Bellamy called out to both groups which bought some time for everyone to pause so that Clarke or her mother could see who was at Arkada's gates.
"Nyko." Clarke called out realizing who was leading this group of individuals.
"What if it's a grounder attack like they did with Murphy?" Miller spoke aloud. Most of the original delinquents like him and Clarke remembered how Murphy had been strung up after being tortured and infected with a hemorrhagic virus so that it would weaken them before a larger forced could attack right after Clarke and the rest had first landed. It was the viral warfare imagery that had stuck with many of the delinquents that situations like this were very hard to overcome even when peace had taken place between Trikru and Skaikru.
Yes there those among the other villages and tribes that would go that far for the quest for vengeance for what Pike would have done... that didn't count for the blame that Skaikru got for the destruction of the City of Light and the ushering in the new Commander.
But this was Nyko... he was a friend.
"What happened to them?" Clarke spoke concerned. The Healer seemed out of breath as if the rush to get here almost cost him his own life.
"The sickness. We lost more than 40 on the way." a young child vomited in the arms of a woman with extremely fluffy reddish brown hair. It took a moment for Clarke to recognize the woman.
"Luna?" Bellamy spoke as she started to move forward. The name started to echo throughout the residents of Arkada. The look of Oh... Crap... this is Lincoln's friend, flowed through the crowd.
"Please don't turn us away because of what I did to you." Luna looked like she was on the verge of begging for Clarke to save the remnants of her Kru. Whatever had happened they were looking at a plague attack, but not on them! Had Alie resorted to using plague warfare to eliminate anyone who could use the flame?
This is when Clarke's mother pushed her way through.
"Out of my way. Please let me through." Dr. Abigail Griffin approached one of the sick and started to take note of the symptoms that the patients had afflicted before them.
"Mom, what is this?" Clarke spoke sensing that this was not the standard viral attack that had been done to Luna and her people.
"Fever, lesions, vomiting." Abby spoke as she recognized the symptoms before her. "It's ARS." It wasn't some new disease that Abby hadn't come across, it was one that Abby had dealt with on the stations.
"What's ARS?" Bellamy spoke up concerned as he saw the devastation of this disease.
"Acute radiation sickness." Clarke's felt the blow to her gut. Most of Skaikru and the original Hundred sensed it too. Ontari looked like she was scared realizing that whatever was taking place was far more dangerous than the non-Slaikru around her. This was the first volley in the battle to save the people she was to rule over and it had arrived on the land. Everyone present became quite to allow the elder healer to work. "When did the symptoms start?" Abby spoke to Luna. Luna sensed that Abby was trying to figure out how long they had been exposed and the amount they had been in contact with this poison that was ravaging their bodies.
"Not sure. Right before the fish started dying." Luna spoke as concern started to spread among the group who knew how toxic this stuff was.
"The fish are dying?" Raven looked scared. All of the work and calculations they had for riding this out had been wrong or something had changed to speed up the Radiation Spread.
"Floating on the sea to the horizon in every direction." Nyko spoke giving how far this threat was approaching. Abby looked at the lesions and their size as she asserted that the spread of the contaminant was limited internally.
"It's not contagious. Let's get them to medbay." Abby spoke as she moved to pick a young girl up that had been in Luna's arms. "Come on." Abby rose up as several more people started come to aid the senior medical officer as Luna seemed to relax some sensing that she would not lose those close to her. Luna seemed to be saying something in Trigedasleng that had to do with the sky. It sounded very much like a prayer.
"I got you. Ok. All right. There you go." Raven spoke as she moved to help Luna up as more Skaikru moved to help bring the people into the Camp.
"It's already here." Clarke spoke sensing that their time had run out and their war against this invisible foe had now started.
Luna had never thought that Clarke would forgive her, but right now that didn't matter. Adria's cough was getting worse. The healer terms that Abby spoke of stated that before the night was out several more would be lost to this sickness. Some of the cases before them were in the treatable phase given their exposure to this radiation stuff, others were on borrow time. Luna felt sick to her stomach and it wasn't due to the sickness spreading through them.
She felt sick because she had failed her people.
Several individuals including herself had a strange needle with a tube attached to it dripping some potion into their veins. Occasionally something would be injected into a branch of it. So far all of them had been given some blue tinted potion. Whatever it was... it seemed to make the lesions go away some, but the vomiting still took place. Adria seemed to vomit the most at times, but that was from her view of things as she had not left her own daughter's side as she leaned over her own bucket to lose the contents of her stomach. The rank smell of fish flowed from it. The very poisoned fish that had stricken her people.
There were several individuals who looked to be from various Krus. One of them was a girl from the Ice Nation, but it the Trikru boy who looked a bit like Lincoln caught her attention as he worked with the various Skaikru healers in treating her people.
"Liam... I need a little help here." The Ice Nation girl called out as she was monitoring the pulse on the woman she was working on. The Scar pattern looked to be uneven. Like one pattern had been started, stopped, and then started again by another person. The symbol on her forehead looked to be a flame. The only time that would have happened was if the child's clan had been wiped out or she had been traded as a slave.
"Coming Boudica." the boy Liam spoke up as he moved over to join her. Joining her they checked the woman as the strange potion was being administered.
"Liam... looks like some of Bekka's gene therapy processes seems to be working." The Ice Nation girl Boudica seemed a bit relaxed some, but there was worry on her scarred face.
"But there is something more?" Liam spoke as he moved to check the woman's pulse.
"Crap... you are right." Liam moved to grab some listening instrument from around his neck and placed it over the woman's heart. "Pulse is slowing down... and her breathing... Help me sit her up." the young healer moved to lean the woman up. "Abby... Clarke... I think we are having a reaction here!" The two other healers moved to join them.
There were bits of conversation taking place as they looked over the woman. There was something wrong...
Abby moved to take note and reached over to pull something from a drawer near the bed.
"Crap... her body is crashing from the strain on it. I need you to run a nutrient line into her stomach and grab me that respirator mask." Abby spoke as she motioned for Clarke to grab a strange mask with a strange bulb on it.
"'Tari..." Abby called the Ice Nation girl, this was a different name then she had been called earlier, but it may have been a variation of it. Boudicatari. "I need you to place this mask over the woman's mouth and squeeze the bulb here to give her extra oxygen." The Ice Nation girl nodded in agreement as she took the mask and started to pump it over the woman's face. Abbi moved to inject something directly into the woman's arm. Luna didn't understand the name of the medicine the healer was giving the woman but the reaction seemed not immediate, but it was worrisome.
"Mom..." Clarke spoke as she took note of the situation.
"The woman's body is under a lot of strain." Abby of Skaikru spoke as she sighed. "I have given her something to help ease the symptoms for now."
"Is she going to die?" Boudica spoke as she squeezed the tube on the mask.
"Don't know... it is her fight. All we can do is aid her in getting through it."
"Then it is a one on one battle between her and death." Abby nodded.
"Just make sure that she is still able to breathe. She needs every last breath she can get to make it through." The look on the Ice Nation girl's face was understood. Though this wasn't her battle alone... she was making sure that it was won... or at least the woman had a fighting chance to get away from the swimming death that was after her.
Luna watched as one of her fellow Floukru quietly pass as the blanket was pulled over his head.
The swimming death had taken another one of her group and Luna for the first time vomited with the pain felt with grief and failure.
Murphy was walking through Arkada.
He was going to be a father...
Praimfaya was coming.
Which one hit the hardest?
The need to protect life...
Had his father thought this way knowing that he would be floated for making the right decision to protect his family?
Would making the same sacrifice his father did to save his life make him any different?
When did your own need for survival get overwritten by the need to make sure that your child saw another day?
The sound of coughing caught his attention as he realized that he was near the infirmary area of the Ark...
"Crap." Murphy spoke as he looked into the room to see the sick, he knew the ailment that was killing them. Years earlier he had been stricken by the same thing.
ARS.
Murphy had been stricken by it when he was a child. That girl was maybe a bit older than he was when he had been caught outside of his parents quarters during a solar flare while he was playing a game of hide and seek. The lesions, the upset stomach, his mother crying and yelling at his father. That day broke his mother. That day his father made the decision that got him floated. Murphy hadn't understood that decision until he saw that girl lying in that bed.
"Mummon... I am scared." The woman with the fluffy red hair with blonde tips looked at the girl with fear in her eyes as she attempted move from her own bed to the child's.
The Trikru tattoos on her upper arms spoke volumes as she willed herself with almost superhuman strength to move from one bed to the other. The mother embraced her child and held her tight. Then she looked at Murphy with the same look that his own mother gave his father on that day so long ago when he had been in that same bed.
"Save our child!" The woman spoke in Grounder. But no translation was needed to be understood between them.
If Murphy had believed in a god... That thought left his mind as a force on-high presented itself. This was the slap across his face as he was lifted off his feet by the collar by that entity to state with a growl:
"JOHN MURPHY... MOVE YOUR FUCKING ASS AND HELP THIS WOMAN... NOW!"
He didn't need to be told twice.
This was a god. It was pissed. And it wanted John Murphy to do its will.
With that Murphy went into action to do something extremely stupid that might get him killed.
He was on a mission from a god.
Emori didn't like to be tailed, but Monty was keeping her within his sights.
It had been an entire day since she had been wearing this damn thing and that mess which had happened at the gates... something had John worried.
This had her on edge...
Something was up and it had to do with this Phoenix girl... With that she decided to find out.
John and Monty had talked about that girl... whatever had happened to her...
Was there something wrong with her?
Did the bracelet discover something about her that made Murphy worried?
Did this Phoenix suffer from some ailment that cost her life?
Emori's mouth started to taste like she had been sucking on a sword or a knife.
Then she saw John...
There was a look in his eyes...
The only time that she had seen a drive like that was during her time she had been under the control of Alie...
It scared her...
"Emori..." John spoke as he moved to embrace her.
Now she was worried as he held onto her.
"John... is there..." Emori was cut off as he shook in her arms.
"We need to do something now!" John spoke as she took her by the hand and nearly dragged her down the hallways of Arkada. Emori was scared as John seemed almost possessed not unlike how she had been back in the City of Light. But this was much more terrifying.
As they moved through a section they saw Raven doing some inventory in a store room. Emori had passed this place over several times thinking it was not important. Who would want to raid food stuffs? Other than the dried meat she had stolen a few weeks ago along with some dried fruit turnovers she hadn't really thought about this place.
Given John's tension in his body, her lover seemed like he was about to pounce upon anyone who would try to get in their way.
"John..."
"Emori take your shirt off!" John spoke as Emori had to blink a few times.
"You want to make love in this place?" Emori spoke going back to her native tongue.
"No... I need a distraction!" Emori grinned a little worried. They were going to steal something! Emori heeded as she started to work off her shirt. This was getting scary and a bit exciting as John grabbed her and started to walk her backwards into the room. John moved to take off his own jacket as he leaned to kiss and drink her in.
"Okay... You know that I am doing inventory in here Murphy!" Raven called out insulted as she started to walk over. John was working off Emori's leggings as he had pulled off his own shirt.
Just as Raven moved to leave... John hauled off and Punched Raven across the face as Emori's leggings had hit the floor. Emori had to blink a few times to realize what John had done as she was standing there naked in the store room.
Raven attempted to get up but John punched Raven in the face again leaving the Skaikru Mechanic and Sorceress unconscious on the floor.
Emori jumped a little scared as she bumped hard into a set of shelves. The rattle caught John's attention as he turned to look at her. The look of worry in his eyes made her that much more scared.
"Emori are you alright!" John's reaction seemed to almost be fanatical as he was almost caught between her concern and whatever this mission was. Taking a necklace with a locket attached to it out of his pocket, John wrapped its chain around his hand before he moved to look around the room as he handed Emori back her shirt. After a moment of looking around John found some adhesive rope and started to tie up Raven.
"John... What is going on?" Emori looked around the room. Whatever was in this room... John wanted.
Emori just stood there naked or nearly naked as the day she was born. But her fear was overriding her need for modesty.
Occasionally John would stop to look at her with worried eyes. It was like he was fighting doing something that would hurt her. The same voice like Alie's would creep in and force him back to the task that he had been commanded to do.
"Raven... forgive me for what I have to do." John said as he bound the woman's feet and wrists with the flat sticky rope before he placed a piece over Raven's mouth. After he did that he moved to checking the shelves. It only took moments for him to find a specific bottle on a shelf full of medical supplies. Emori pulled her leggings up around her naked bottom and started to follow John to a table.
Her mouth was going dry and the taste of metal was whiffing off of the top of her mouth.
John had cleared off a section of the table as best as he could as he poured out the contents of the jar and started to count the dark pills before him.
John repeated the process twice before taking two of the pills and placing them into the locket and placing it around Emori's neck.
"Emori... If anyone asks about the pill... don't answer... If Abby asks about the pills, only tell her that you have them and that I gave them to you under terms that you will give them to her only when Monty is present with the data from your bracelet."
Bracelet? Data?
"John... Is... Some force like Alie..." Emori was scared... Emori reached for her concealed knife that she had in her pocket.
"Emori... this is my free will... Just... Just I have to do this." John moved to embrace her. Emori sensed that he was about to do something stupid... Then John touched her and took the knife from her.
"John..." Emori felt John touch her belly and bit his mouth. Emori attempted to do a seduction move to at least make John drop his pants. Emori moved and dropped her pants as she hopped onto the table. Emori may have lacked upper body strength but that didn't mean that she couldn't use her legs and thighs to keep him put. If she used her sleep cloth to knock him out... Then maybe she could find out what was wrong with John.
"You stole my heart Emori... I would do anything for you."
"I'm not a thief. I'm just really good at acquiring things that aren't mine."
"You acquired my heart. Now I must do something to steal back my soul so that I can share it with you." John moved to cup one of Emori's breasts. John learned in to kiss her. Emori attempted to move with her sleep cloth from her cloved hand that she had made out of herbs for John to breathe in but was poked with something in her leg.
"John..." John was thinking the same thing as she had... But he had been faster than her. Then blackness came.
Luna had seen several more of her kru die in the past hour. The Skaikru healers were fighting the battle. Even the Ice Nation girl seemed to have been pushing forward. One of the people she had been tending to had died. To say that she was not taking the defeat will was an understatement. It was only when Liam of Skaikru had taken her outside that he had forced her to go through the healers defeat ritual that she was able to relax some. Maybe having her realize that she had to understand that she had to learn as much from the defeat as well as her victories was a bitter pill to take.
After a moment she had to compose herself before Liam let her back into the healers room so that she might use her enemies action to maybe help save the life of another soul under her care.
Adria seemed to be the next one that Death was coming for...
Luna prayed again...
I give myself... to the miracle... of the sea.
I give myself... to the strength... of the earth.
I give myself... to the hope... of the heavens.
I give myself... to the life... of nature.
I give myself... to the fate... of the winds.
I give myself... to...
That was when I young man with dark slicked back hair walked into the room. His face was rough and bore the look of someone who had been through much... Eyes that had seen too much. He handed a bottle to Abby and the woman looked to be shocked to see what it was.
It looked to be one of the bottles that the Skaikru kept their medicine in.
"John..." Abby spoke when she realized what it was.
"Save the girl!" the man John spoke as he moved to take a chair and sat down as Abby opened it to look at the contents. "There are forty-eight in there." he answered. "Counted twice... you know why I did what I did. Work now... save the girl." Abby responded as she moved to take a pill from the bottle.
"Luna... Help me get your daughter's head up." Abby grabbed a glass of water and had her daughter take the medicine. Adria seemed weak from the simple action, as Luna looked at John. With a smug grin he spoke.
"A voice said to do this. It was very blunt... I got the point." With that he leaned forward and watched over her and her daughter.
It took some time, but Adria seemed to have started improving.
A little while later a Trikru woman who was helping out one of the other healers called out.
"I think we got a break here." Luna turned to see that a young man who had come with them from the Rig had started to recover.
"The woman I am working on seems to be doing better." The Ice Nation girl spoke as she tapped the drops to flow faster from the black potion that they were giving her people. Unlike the battle she had lost earlier, she was keeping her head in the game to ensure that her foe was put down for sure.
Whatever had happened had shifted the tide to battle against death.
It proceeded for the next hour as more of her Kru started to survive.
Luna turned to look at the young man.
"What is your name?"
"John Murphy of the Hundred of Skaikru... Former Apprentice to that Flamekeeper asshole Titus... And someone who will be in a whole lot of trouble and probably will be floated for what I did. But it was the right thing to do."
Floated?
She was unsure if he was speaking a term of Skiakru in Gonasleng, but she didn't care if he had been sent by the gods... he had given her hope. A sliver of it, but hope nonetheless.
"I am Luna of Floukru..." John just grinned.
"I am in good company... Thank you for being one of the four people that could piss that asshole off. He hated you slightly more than me, Clarke, and Ontari combined." It was as if he sensed that it was fate driving them together.
"Would you like to hear how Alie and Titus rigged the game?"
"What game?"
"Denying you the flame!"
That was when several guards came into the room along with two women who looked a little worse for wear.
"John... what did you do..." The woman from one of the Nomadic Kru's turned to see that some action took place.
Abby handed the bottle back to dark skinned Skaikru woman.
"We only used one pill on the girl." Abby told them.
"John..." The girl from the nomads spoke as she saw a look in the young man's eyes.
"I did what I needed to do... I did the right thing. Abby knows why I did it. If you are here to lock me up for attacking you, fine. I am not going to resist." Several Skaikru guards stood by the doorway.
"Does this have to do with Phoenix?" The girl spoke.
"It does... If you want to know why... Have Monty bring his tablet with the readings he was showing me and have Abby explain what they mean." That was when John got up and walked over to the guards and he left the room with them.
Luna had been left more confused than ever. And like the others in the room there was a story to tell... For the time being Luna thanked the gods that her daughter had been saved, though the price that it may have cost might be this young man's life.
Luna prayed again, but this time for the young man who had helped to save the life of her daughter that they may watch over him and protect him.
Emori had sat in the room confused.
John had stolen medicine to save the young girl in the healer's quarters.
When the reasons hit her ears, her world flipped upside down.
Raven had let her keep the two pills that John had given her.
She was going to be a mother...
That scared her... But what John had done had left her in the clear for his actions.
Maybe it was the reason if anyone had asked that they were going to have celebratory sex of being parents.
But seeing Luna and her daughter Adria and learning of John's past. Maybe John had felt too much in that one moment. Seeing Luna being in the same position that his mother had been as a child. The same ailment that was striking her child that had stuck him and the decision that his father made in getting the cure to him.
The decision that had cost his father his life.
Skaikru had been a very stringent people in their ways during John's childhood to the point of killing any criminal who stole from the Kru as a whole.
Emori didn't know if she was more scared of them now or Luna... Luna, who despite being a Nightblood had made her peace with Emori and had become an older sister to her.
Luna sensed that John was trying to put things right… make things right for the wrongs done by his people to him and the rest of the Hundred.
Emori was now part of a Kru, the Hundred-kru. To a point Raven, who had been the most vocal about punishing John Murphy, had relaxed her anger given extraordinary circumstances of why he had done what he had done.
This was a mess of old wounds and sins committed by the Sky People that was in the process of being set right.
John would be in the cells for the next few days for his actions on Raven and herself. But as Emori rubbed her belly she felt scared, angry, happy, confused, horny, upset, sad, worried all through this.
A Mother…
She didn't know… They had made love several times, but the most passionate had been in her cave hideout. Gods… that was a fucking great time… that was when it hit her. John didn't just love her... he would fight for her… and now their child.
Emori had seen the reading slowly beep out with a thump.
A precious little life that was now growing inside of her John had considered so important that he was willing to do a theft to ensure he/she/they lived.
This is when Luna decided to walk with her some.
Somehow the treatment had helped restore her enough that for the time being she was working at getting another roll of thread to sew up the burial cloths. Luna still had a crew to mourn for, but she still had a crew. Not many, but given the number it was ironic that it was the same number she had started with: Thirteen. That didn't count the number that were living in Polis or were helping the Skaikru set up the shelters through the various lands. Thirteen survivors of the Rig. It wasn't much but it was enough for her to start again.
Adria was sleeping now and Luna just needed to breathe some as she needed to move. Getting the thread from the storeroom seemed to be a simple act of clearing their minds.
Given the turbulence of the last few hours hearing Luna's voice chant the following words made Emori think back to the time she and John had spent on her boat.
I give myself... to the miracle... of the sea.
We come from the water, we return to the water.
For every storm that rises… may gentle rains and winds come to those who need them.
Emori concurred.
For this coming storm there needed to be a time of peace and rebuilding.
Life, Death and Rebirth.
Fall, winter, spring.
She wanted a better world for herself and her child. Maybe she would get it even if she had to steal it from the grasp of Death itself.
Olivia was walking through the streets of Polis with Monty. The fifteen-year-old former Delinquent was still coming to terms of her present life. The streets were still red with bloodstains in places, but things were slowly shifting towards getting supplies to the various bunkers. Word had slowly gotten out and later confirmed when word about what Alie had set up as her last act of spite. Some people were sick, others were angry, the rest were... well coming to terms that if they were to live, they would have to start working together to survive. There still had been some anger towards Skaikru, but Roan and a few others had become the voice of reason. The only reason that Alie had attacked Skaikru first was to get into their pre-Praimfaya archives to find and destroy the Commander's flame. Polis being the next place that held an archive of information was her next stop in her search. At the rate Alie had been going, she would have headed towards any place that had a large enough population and library of knowledge to claim under her control.
Her poisoning the land was her act of spite. Luna and those living on her Oil Rig home had been her weapons test to see how effective her poisoning would be. Well that was the scuttlebutt floating around. Olivia didn't doubt that. But Bekka's cure had worked. Now it was up to them rev up the production to make enough for everyone before the Praimfaya got here.
For the first time wearing one of the delinquent monitor bracelets that Monty and Raven had pieced back together only gave her some comfort. Sienna had rubbed some rough white war paint on the sides of her face so that she would look more Grounder. Most of the Arkers didn't like the way the Delinquents had gone Grounder, but they didn't have to deal with these people on a daily basis.
Fuck them... Bellamy's speech was right from all of those months back... Their outcast children were not Arkers, they were Grounders... They were Skaikru! They would fight, they would die, and they would live for each other. Shit... This was her home now. She wasn't going to let anyone or anything take it from her. Praimfaya was on her shit list of things that she was going to help in kicking its fucking ass to hell that it would bare the marks of her boots permanently etched on its behind.
Occasionally she saw some warrior want to glare at her, others... well showed a sympathetic eye to her. A few times Olivia had been spat on, but it was in reference of her being mistaken for Klark the Wanheda. To commiserate, being blonde and Skaikru made you a target. No wonder Clarke had dyed her hair red during her time in the woods after the mess with Mount Weather. Between the pair of combat tomahawks she had sheathed on her back, Olivia was doing her best to look non-threatening among these people. Go Tribal... go Grounder... Be brave and aggressive, be prepared, arrange things so that you can return, strengthen the group when and where you can.
A kind Trikru woman with blonde hair had moved to help wipe the spit from Olivia's hair with a cloth she had. Now the woman was walking with her now trying to get a sense of the young girl next to her. It was strange, but the woman appeared to sense that she was not like her Arker parents. But Olivia's body tension screamed what she was thinking as the events of the last day or so had played out again and again in her mind.
"Young Skaikru... you must be worried for your people?" The woman spoke.
"And Your's too..." Olivia spoke in native Grounder. This made the woman blink a few times. Maybe she was expecting the response to be done in what the Grounders called Gonasleng.
"Such a mess being made over such a little thing." The woman seemed to be searching out Olivia's views or stances on a matter as they passed a large banner picturing the I.A. unit that was the Commander's Flame. The woman must have been part of a group of Trikru that didn't so much think of the Flame as being magical, just made from a knowledge lost to them.
"The Flame... yeah... Becca made the damn thing to help aid those who had it could rebuild the world. Though 'Tari seems to understand that it is a mantel that was to be carried by those chosen by her fellow Nightbloods. But her learning to be a commander that is something she has to earn through her own hard work." Olivia spoke.
"You speak ill of the Commander!" Olivia stopped. The woman thought it was an insult... Not how things were.
"No... I speak as her friend. For a girl that was set up to be a puppet by Nia, then Alie... She has a strength that she is discovering on her own of how strong she can become on her own. You want another Lexa... she is not. Nonetheless, she is learning what is to be a leader. No wonder Clarke took her under her wing to train as her Second as ordered by Lexa."
"Wait... you mean Ontari is Wanheda's second?" This woman didn't know. Maybe the shock of realizing that there was another reason that Ontari hadn't returned to Polis after her injuries.
"Put in charge over the Hundred-kru. Yes... Ontari is working hard to make up for the training she was denied because of Nia. I see the struggles she has, she is becoming a better leader because of it. Rough edges being knocked off, skills being polished and sharpened. I see her talking at times with the previous Commanders. I mean I see some of the doubt she has, but also the strength she is gaining. Francesca seems to be the one she has a rapport with other than Becca, Einheart and Lexa."
"Heda Francesca?" This was a shock. But for Olivia... Well Francesca was the one who seemed to be a confidant and mentor. The one who Ontari seemed to have found a kindred spirit in in helping her become a better leader while not learning to be a field medic.
"Yeah... Francesca seems to be making her look at the larger picture. Becca has Ontari on some driven mission to fulfill her legacy at making the Nightbloods into something more than just Commanders, but Cesca... soothes out the doubt. I only have been able to hear one side of the conversation. It is sort of intriguing... Tari gets a little nervous when people catch her in these conversations. However, when I said I didn't mind her speaking to Cesca that Tari relaxed some and felt more comfortable in allowing a dialogue to take place with knowledge that the Commander's spirit was also wanting to be part of the conversation taking place. I even answered some of Cesca's questions she had for me." The woman seemed to be in intrigued now. Though Olivia calling Franceca Cesca might have been seen as an insult the conversation seemed to have taken Olivia's mind off of the problems at hand such as the recent events with Luna.
"What were the questions the Heda's spirit asked you?" the woman asked.
"My origins. Some of my people's history. Beliefs. My experiences on the ground." Olivia remembered that day pretty well as she was grilled about Skaikru, the history of the Ark, the Sky Box and the early days of the Hundred being on the ground. "Though it felt strange as I sensed that she was sizing me up in relation to those she had encountered while she was alive. The only time Ontari got uncomfortable about the conversation was when I spoke of the Skybox... our prison where I had been sentenced for the crime I had committed. Ontari opened up some about what Nia had done to her, which was some pretty dark stuff. I gave her my strength and let her know that she was not alone in fighting the darkness that covered her past. Maybe that was the reason that she is fighting so hard to protect those under her charge. Ontari was a victim of Nia's cruelty. If you thought that bitch was evil before... Ontari hated her with her entire being. The only reason that Ontari couldn't kill the Queen was because Nia was holding Ontari's home village hostage." The woman sensed that despite all of the evil Ontari had done, she was just a scared young woman who had been manipulated into that evil due to her not knowing a better way. Now Ontari was learning a better way and was thriving because of it. Olivia's past seemed to be the next issue before the woman as she was inquired on that topic.
"You were a criminal?" the woman spoke. Olivia sighed as she decided to let the truth be known. Be honest... That meant a lot among the Grounders and the Hundred.
"Yes and no... I was sentenced to be in there because I got into a brawl and several people got hurt. I was sentenced to be in the Sky Box for several months... But given my aggression and age range, I fell into the category of those being selected to be sent down with the rest of Hundred to be an advance scout for the Ark." The woman stopped cold. The cat was out of the bag.
"You are one of the Hundred Warriors that came down from the Sky with Wanheda!" People around them came to a dead stop. The wood carver that Monty had been speaking to with black hair with peppered white who was a little younger than Kane nearly dropping the wood out of his hand. Monty cursed realizing that the piece of wood he wanted to be carved to fit the fermenter they were building was going to be put on hold. The cut scar over this man's left eye only highlighted the total shock he was in as Monty knelt down to pick up the wood so that when the shock wore off he could get back to the project at hand.
"I am..." Olivia tensed checking the crowd before her. "... I am Grounder... I fight to protect Kru... People I care for... Ontari is part of that Kru... Tari… has earned my respect as a person whom I call sister. I will fight for her... I will help buy the time she needs to help save those she leads. I fight for my home... I fight for the Kongeda-kru." Olivia hadn't really been a strong speaker in her life, but the words seemed to fall off of her lips. "I have seen her learning how to become a healer under Clarke. Those skills she has learned have come in handy when they had to battle some of the sickness that have started to come to our lands, especially when it had hit the rig that Luna lived at. It was rough… But as Ontari lost a battle or two with death taking those under her care, she was able to learn how to stop it from taking the next person. She battled beside Clarke to help save those people." Olivia spoke. "This may not be the war she was trained for… The mindset she has gotten into has. They lost the rig, but saved the people. Not all, but enough for them to start again."
"She has learned to command Death?" The woman spoke.
"No... Not command Death… learned to help fight it off long enough to give those within its grasp time to escape. Command it… That is what she is learning to do. Unfortunately... She may learn to command it in a short time. Though Death has built an army and many more will have to learn those skills before this war is over. I pray that there are enough of us trained to duel with Death that those who can Command it can win."
Olivia's words worked through the crowd as they realized a war had been declared and their Commander was learning how to fight it. Given what they were facing, having knowledge of how to defeat something that was more plague than warrior had them thinking that though young, their new Commander was facing a foe that required her to use her head rather than a blade to defeat. Conversely, this warrior before them would stand by their Commander's side in this fight and ensure that it would be won.
Olivia looked around her and realized that though she had been spit upon, there was no mistaking that she was going to stand her ground if anyone or anything decided to pick a fight with her. If Ontari was here she would be grinning at the epic levels of badassiness that had been told about her doing something good.
Hey... if you had fought Death several times and learned to escape its grasp. Then learning to tame or tell it fuck off... well... Ontari of the Hundred just had that part of her legend laid out cold.
Well I hope that you liked the chapter so far.
I wanted to give Murphy and Luna a little more filled out backgrounds on their characters as well as make up for how they were treated on the series.
I am currently working on Chapter 13 and if you have any ideas for situations or characters you want me to put in. Let me know.
Hearns
