Sorry about taking so long to update. I have been moving between various projects as well as writing the "final chapter" of this story so that I can loop back to write the events leading up to it. So far, I have had to split this chapter into two parts just to get it out to my readers. Well so much for the update. Here is the story.
13 – Lunar and other types of Spirits
Cara, a Skaikru woman walked nearby, her battle worn form spoke that she was a member of the Hundred. The lean and Lethe the woman's current state of dress was a far cry from the soot eye paint and the large side arms she had carried with her during her possessed state of being one of Alie's followers. Like those who had fallen under the spell of the Red Witch Alie, this young woman was still reeling from the aftereffects of the harm they had done.
This touching of the darkness had changed them, some for the better and some for the worse at knowing what their demons were.
There were signs that she like the other members of Wanheda's warriors The Hundred were slowly going Grounder, a term where these children of the Sky had started to bear the marking of their kills and tales of their lives upon their skin. Maybe they needed to bear the scars and the markings of the events to remind them to become better people than they had been. Monkey took note of the subtle changes that were now working their way through the Skaikru people.
The tattoos on the underside of Cara's hands spoke to that social change she had adopted as part of making her home on the ground. Given time their marking would be known by all kru but for now Monkey let the mystery of their meanings be.
The walk was doing some good as it was a reconnection for himself and those he was walking with the natural world... The realm of plants, animals, water, and wind... not one of fake dreams and cold steel. Cara looked over to him and felt better. Maybe being an outsider among this group of her people put her mind at rest. Even the familiar feel of a former enemy among them might have been a peaceful reminder of the times before this cursed witch had come into their home.
Cara was one of those warriors of legend that was spoken of over campfires and dinner tables. Monkey had heard the stories about Skaikru's faith were these people any different in wanting to flee back to their gods and wrap themselves back into acts of penance.
In light of recent events, even that faith in the gods and what was good in this world had been tested after he and his wife had seen the destruction that the Red Witch Alie had brought to these great lands. From the lands of Azgeda to the shores of Boudalan the peoples of these clans had been harms in ways not seen since the time of Praimfaya. If one being could wreak that level of destruction through a mixture of lost tech and magic, he feared for the future unless a mounted effort was made to fight against it in the future. With a sigh Monkey took note of his own recent events that had so traumatized his family when they had entered Polis.
Monkey had finally gotten Trip to get some sleep after the days his wife had spent awake by her father's side. Her father's injuries had so torn at the soul of the woman he loved. The power to break free will and force someone to do the things he had seen, made him think about the monsters that had been set loose upon this world. Stories would be told for generations about the time Demons had been unleashed upon the lands because the door of a prison being broken open by an ancient evil. Monkey had even heard a story of a Shallow Valley boy who had killed his own family and was looking to avenge their deaths by finding the Red Witch's body and burning it. This was something that he had spoken to Wanheda about and she wasn't surprised. Mostly she wanted to find this young man and have him join her group in helping smelt the witch's hard drive body into something that would never harm anyone again.
Now walking along the edge of Skaikru lands Cara and several others came to a stop alongside a strange tree which they knelt before and started to pray to her gods.
This Last Tree had interested him.
Maybe figuring out some of the Skaikru beliefs would be helpful in the future. Hearing the woman pray he understood some of what drove these people.
They were Earth worshipers.
The ground was sacred.
The breath of the trees of the mother gave them life.
The trees gave them air.
Each breath was a gift to be cherished.
Inhale from the mother's gift.
Exhale is your gift to the mother.
In the end... from their first breath to their last... their mother must be cared for, respected, and cherished as she gives life as well as takes it away.
Some of the Trikru affected had started to do the same thing, but watching these people pray to their god he had come to understand why so much blood had been split.
Skaikru just wanted to be near their mother. The forest they had landed in they had seen as being sacred. Yes, they were willing to talk, but the harm that had been done through mistakes on both sides had harmed both peoples.
Skaikru given half a chance and some understanding would have willingly left the Trikru alone peacefully.
But that wasn't to be given the amount of blood that had been spilled in the process.
The Ice Nation's actions only compounded the mess.
The farmers of Skaikru had been forced from their home ship that had landed there. Only to find that the forest that Alpha Station had landed on was decent. Though the station couldn't hold their numbers, they found a good place of land by the Mountain Men's layer. They were in the process of getting the supplies they needed to build their long houses when the Ice Nation had attacked. These people didn't want to be in the layer of the Mountain Men, but it was the only place they could go to keep themselves warm and dry for the nights till their village was built.
The Ice Nation destroying the land and making it unfarmable had forced Pike of Skaikru to attack a nearby village to get their land so that he could farm.
This was a farmer who had been pushed to his limits by losing land to which he felt at home on again, again, and again.
The blockade only had added to the misery.
All Skaikru wanted was to be left alone, grow their crops and raise their animals in peace. Now as things started to calm down, the mood that these people were giving off showed that they had made the wrong decision in choosing Pike as their leader. Maybe in burning of his body along with those he had been in the part of killing might smooth things over with the families of the fallen. Nia being one of them.
The only other time he had heard of a mess like this taking place had been with the Sky Walker kid. The kid had massacred an entire village thinking that they had killed his friends, one of which being Wanheda herself. When Clarke had found out she had been horrified by his actions. She had to side with Commander Lexa in that the young man should be punished. To spare the kid any suffering via the death if a thousand cuts, Clarke had stabbed him in the heart. Now with Pike's death the mood was forming that maybe they should be better at talking than at violence when it came to resolving their conflicts.
They were excellent healers, he had seen that first hand. Though he had seen the pain in their eyes that with all the mistakes they had done, they were trying to make things right. Listening to their prayers to their Earth Mother they doing their best to serve her and maybe work a little harder at building the necessary bridges needed for their future.
He listened to some of the prayers and understood that they were coming to terms with the death of one way of life and the start of another.
Maybe that was a good thing, maybe not. But change was a constant and if one didn't adapt and rise to the challenges before them, then death would come.
They had the strength to rise to the challenge, now... they had to follow through with it.
If Skaikru was to survive... Monkey thought, they would need to change into something more than they had been. Wanheda was marking her path for them. All they needed to do was follow it.
Monkey decided to add his prayers to their own.
Maybe an introduction of their god to his might lead to smoothing over future conflicts.
Luna was tired of being poked and prodded. Jabbed with needles, bleed, and pumped full of things she couldn't even pronounce.
She didn't like it... but Like Ontari, her blood was the key to saving her people, she could live with it for the time being. The transfusion of Skaikru blood into her body was helping rebuild her defenses of her immune system after the beating it had taken from the Radiation poisoning. Though it was Abby wanting to study more of her biology as she was the one who had gotten some of the highest doses from the Rig before her body started to succumb. Yet how her body was healing from the radiation so quickly after getting minimal treatment was what Abby wanted to learn about. In doing so Abby could help protect the other Nightbloods she had here from further harm. Additionally, ever bit of knowledge Abby gained helped in her work on a cure for this poison plague that was now flooding over the lands of the Thirteen Kru.
Luna backtracked the events of what had happened to bring her to this place.
The storm that had passed by her home had carried Alie's cursed plague within its rains to those living there. If you were safe from a foe who knew more ways to kill you than you could think of was just denial. Luna had learned that the hard way.
Now Luna had to become a better leader. A wiser leader, a more educated leader.
It was hard to wrap her mind around...
The truth...
Like many things if one thought it didn't matter to them it wasn't important, then you had situations like this occur and you nearly losing your entire kru because of it.
Luna had been forced to learn that lesson the hard way.
Bekka... Faith... Bloodline... Building the Future. Those were the things she now had to focus on. For Adira's sake Luna had to ensure that the mistakes of the past were not repeated. The Decedents of Bekka needed to stand tall once again without the strings of those who wanted to control them for their own means.
Flamekeepers such as Titus and Queens like Nia had used the descendants of Bekka to keep power and use it to influence the political policy throughout the lands they controlled. Luna was right to run... She didn't want to be someone's puppet. She was a person... not some... some vessel meant to carry the spirit of some dead leader... No... Luna wanted more in her life... she wanted to live her life on her terms... no one's else's.
Murphy offering her the position as being Flamekeeper for this generation so that those like herself would have a say in their futures came as a shock.
Luna was a Nightblood who didn't want the flame... It made sense. Maybe it was her legacy in helping pick a new Commander without losing her life that had struck so hard to Titus's mindset. Murphy's act of revenge and giving the Descendants of Bekka back their birthright was his way of screwing over the bastard and his predecessors so hard that they would be screaming rights from the depths of the underworld.
It was a shift...
The Truth and having your eyes opened had left an impact on this man.
Though her ideas of creating place based on Peace wasn't one that people wanted her eyes shut on. It was a good dream to have. A place to work for peace, in mind, body and soul. Maybe that was why many of Clarke's kru wanted to speak to her. They were in search of that peace in their lives after all the nightmares they had been through over the last few years.
Eden Kon Hundred-kru was the most vocal and wished to explain her darkness to Luna. The pacifism wasn't her strong suit, but the inner peace teachings was something she wanted. Eden was a violent creature who had been caged at a young age because of her bloodlust that had overwhelmed her humanity. Her demon was always creeping at the surface scaring her, but it also comforted her in being her protector. Eden was angry at it for screwing up her life but not angry for it being part of her.
But as Luna watched her daughter sleep, that conflict would pass as it was directed to tasks that would help the members of her Kru. Eden's darkness... that would take work and time. Animalistic urges and instincts trapped in a human body fighting to get out every chance they got. Coming to the Ground had saved the girl from a death sentence that had marked her since this beast had gotten loose in her childhood. So much like Octavia's will to survive and fight... But Luna had been blind to the fact that Octavia had been caged so much of her life. Lincoln had tamed that primal side and made it something good. Something that felt alive and happy. Eden's darkness had found a purpose with its need to hunt and protect those she called her pace. Octavia's strength and will as a fighter had been given a purpose when it had found Indra and the warriors of the Trikru.
When Lincoln had been torn from Octavia's life... she had gone feral... animalistic... savage... Looking for a fight, looking for a reason to live despite that pain.
Octavia... Luna's hadn't seen the harm she had done to that young woman in saying no to her on her oil rig home.
She hadn't known...
Skairipa... was wounded... hurt... scared... the woman wanted to feel something other than pain... All the girl could do was fight, fight from one moment to the next just to keep breathing. Marked with a death sentence the day she was born... who wouldn't fight to see their next day of life. Who wouldn't hide from those wishing to take it.
Octavia would slay any foe wishing to take her life...
Death feared this girl...
She would not go down.
She was fight from moment of conception to the moment of her future death.
If Octavia's blood would have been black... She would have made an excellent Commander.
Luna kicked herself hard.
She had failed, the girl had been drowning in darkness, and a simple embrace would have helped. Luna had been blind to see herself reflected in the life of one so young.
Octavia was a wolf who wanted to be a house dog and her mate had been taken. The one who balanced her and made her whole. Made her sane in this insane world.
"You are not alone." Four words in the ancient Gonasleng tongue would have done much to help the young woman... A shoulder, to cry on... a warm bowl of fish stew and a soft bed and just listening to someone who had been forged the same way she had been: through fire and pain.
Luna took a deep breath and tried to meditate on recent events.
Had Luna been that blind to the facts before her that she was seeing a younger version of herself that wanted… NO! Needed help to heal! Luna had lost her love Boo as Octavia had lost her love Lincoln.
May the dead take mercy upon her soul for what she had done? Luna let a tear fall from her cheek. She had fucked up and people had died. People who had trusted her, depended upon her, needed her.
Luna would make this right.
Clarke and Ontari would help in performing the burial rights for those of Floukru who had died beside her. The bodies would have to be burned to keep the poison from spreading, but the ashes would be gathered so that they could be spread to the sea when it was time.
The water within her blood that Luna so worshiped was where another battle was taking place.
Now as her body was healing after being injected with Skaikru antibodies. The little blood warrior creatures would help fight off the radiation sickness and shore up her body's defenses from the assault it had endured from her poisoning. She started to understand some of the battle that Clarke and the others were fighting now.
Defeating the Red Witch Alie was only part of it. Doing that part was simple. They really needed someone who could help in the healing process.
Between the seasonal storms that were coming and the poison clouds of smoke that the Red Witch Alie had unleashed upon the lands of the world... Luna's home had been the first to bare the grunt of this disaster.
Though there were lives lost, at least some good had come from what had happened.
Skiakru knew how much of Bekka's formula to use to treat the Praimfaya sickness to cure someone.
But it was Adria who had the one to benefit the most.
Somehow... given how Abby had stated it, Adria had become a Nightblood. Most of the sequences were there for the trait to emerge, just that the treatment had pushed her daughter the rest of the way there. Bekka spirit was doing her best to look out for her descendants. Maybe that was why the Pramheda had begged Clarke to be the warrior by her side during that final battle with Alie. To give Ontari a new purpose other than being a Commander. To keep the nations together in light of the threat they were not facing.
Clarke of Skaikru's name would be mentioned with the same honor and reverence as Bekka's in the generations yet to be born.
This forced Luna to think about her place in the history yet to be written.
What was Bekka's purpose for Luna herself?
Luna let that thought go to the back of her mind as she reached out to pull up the blanket around her daughter's body.
Luna saw that the red marks from the lesions on her daughter's face were slowly turning black... Not from illness, but from what she was becoming: A Nightblood.
Adria's and her children would be Nightbloods. This broke and comforted Luna at the same time. Bekka's bloodline ran through this little girl and it was fighting to keep her alive with the raw fury of her ancestor's desire to save the world. Adria needed to be protected from harm as her blood changed from red like her father to the black like her mother Luna's as she underwent the transformation. Luna was scared what this would mean for her daughter's future.
The last thing Luna wanted was for Adria to go through the Hell she had gone through being a Nightblood Initiate.
The only conciliation was that Ontari had changed the rules for the right of succession so that the ritual combat that had taken Gaius' life would be stopped for the next conclave.
Murphy stated that Bekka had wanted the tradition to follow the line of succession much like a Heda called Thee Pope. Less with the swords and more with the paper and a stove. Luna wanted to learn more about this tradition but her stomach moved on her.
Luna still felt sick from the poison, but she had a fighting chance to recover as the Skaikru blood warriors coursed through her veins to heal her body. Her own blood warriors had been overwhelmed by the assault on her body. Considering that Luna's body had held up as well as it had was a testament to Bekka's skill at blood forging. Hearing about what had happened to the young Nightblood who had been found by the members of the Plains Raiders spoke to the sheer amount of pummeling that this radiation plague could do the body. Luna was lucky to be alive. The young Nightblood child hadn't been.
Looking over at Adria, Luna felt the sheer terror of the force that had nearly taken her daughter's life.
Adria... she still needed help as her battle with this sickness was far from over.
Abby had done her best to help restore the child's ability to eat, but she was hitting her limit with what she could do with the medicine. Even with the pill that had saved Adria's life only went so far. But that little medicine had been enough for Death to lose Adria's scent and for it to swim off to get easier quarry.
This was until Ontari's Skaikru lover offered up an option.
He knew of a drug that could help soothe the child's stomach and aid in helping her eat. It was an herb used to treat the aftereffects of a sickness caused by a disease that devastated the body so harshly that the only way it could be treated was by being poisoned. Adria's symptoms mirrored the poisoning and could be treated by the antidote. Though there was a problem in that the last known location of it was located inside of the remains of one of their skai-ships that had crashed in the Ice Nation. A place that wasn't easily accessible due to the recent conflict between Pike of Skaikru's faction and the members of the Ice Nation.
Roan was doing his best to send messages to several of his war-chiefs to allow quick passage for the small team of warriors to be sent to retrieve the medicine needed.
Now as Luna was slowly starting to recover, she knew that Abby would need to add her own Nightblood and possibly that of her daughter's to help be the base for the cure needed.
Luna knew now she wasn't needed to fight a person, or a group of individuals, she was needed to help provide a cure to save innocents.
This wasn't a fight and some truth now started to make sense to what Bekka meant by "Blood must have blood."
Their blood sickness needed to be fought off by the shields carried by the warriors in her own black colored blood.
She was just the vessel.
These beings needed her to sail to this place to so that they could find help, but also help those in need.
She didn't want to fight.
But like a ship with warriors on it, did you blame the warriors of the ship they used to get to their destination or the ship that had brought them there that might later bring crops and fish to those in need.
She prayed.
Augwa... I asked that I not take up violence again... There is a battle raging, and I am the vessel that has brought warriors to protect the innocent. I know the reason they fight... But what do you want me to do?
That prayer was halted as there as a knock on the metal door of the room she was in now.
"Luna... We need a little help." A young woman with dark skin stood before her. It was Raven... the woman who was furious about Murphy punching her out so that he could steal the drug that helped save Adira's life... But the story and the truth about Murphy had torn at her soul.
He had done a wrong to make something right.
He was going to be a father... he was doing what he did to protect his child as well as put right a wrong done against his father.
"Raven..." The young woman seemed a little uneasy when Luna spoke. There was a sense of fear in the girl's stance. Luna had overheard several of the stories told about her. Some of which where she was to be feared given she was a Nightblood, others were in relation to her being Lincoln's mentor.
"...Lu... Luna." The dark skinned Skaikru girl looked at her as Adria rolled in her bed trying to keep the stiffness of her body away. "How is your daughter?" Raven sensed that whatever was needed would be put on hold until Adria got better.
"She is getting better... But her body was weakened by the toxins flowing through her system." Raven bit her lip. "I just want her to eat... Hopefully this herb laced sky cake that your friend Jasper is planning on making for her will help cure the last of her illness."
"Luna... I am sorry for my actions and how I acted..." Raven was doing her best to apologize.
"You were trying to protect your Kru. I heard how rare and hard to make the medicine was that was used to save my daughter's life. You were furious thinking it was going to be squandered. You relented when you discovered it was going to be used to save a child's life." Luna rose from Adria's bed. Luna took note of the girl's injuries both old and new. "Raven of Skaikru, you came to ask something of me. Speak." Raven tensed some. The young woman still sensed the shame she bore for how she acted. Maybe more when she had learned of Emori's pregnancy.
"Yes... Me and Clarke and trying to see how far the spread of the radiation has taken place. Could we have you take a look at a few maps to see where your people's boats went on your fishing trips." Luna sensed something more. "If you want me to... I will look after your daughter while you do so." Luna reached up and traced the edge of the young woman's face before placing her fingers under Raven's ear. Luna's toned muscles spoke of her training and strength that she had at her disposal.
"Do not speak... I will ask some questions before I go, be honest. I will judge your reaction. Lie..." Raven's body shuddered as the young woman realized what Luna might do to her with this non-threatening grip on her face. Raven's pulse moved faster in the fear. "I did not say I would kill you." Pulse slowed down. The tension in the young woman's body fluttered. She was being judged though how she acted spoke that she had undergone a trial like this before. Maybe even more harshly given the fight or flight response her body reacted to.
"Are you afraid of me?" Raven's heart beat faster under Luna's finger. Tha Thump tha thump Tha Thump tha thump. She was scared.
"Nightblood?" Constant. Tha Thump tha thump. Tha Thump tha thump. Thank you, Lexa, for being the feared warrior of lore and possibly Ontari for that reaction.
"Me fighting Wanheda?" Faster. Thump thump Thump thump Thump thump Thump tha thump. word of that encounter was made clear of her distaste at taking the Flame.
"Lincoln." faster. Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump. She knew of what had happened to her friend.
"Were you his friend?" fast, but constant Thump thump. Thump thump. She was.
"Did he speak of me?" Constant. Tha Thump tha thump. She did.
"Did he try to help you out of the dark place you were at?" Constant Tha Thump tha thump. No... but was there listening to her as he knew of her troubles.
"Was it because of your leg?" Constant. Tha Thump tha thump. Her injury was a topic that something had happened.
"The mountain men." Very fast. Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump. Well she figured out who had done the wounding to this young woman.
"They harmed you." Very fast. Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump. Well a victim of the Mountain men. Explained a lot of her actions.
"Did Alie, the Red Witch curse you with a demon?" Constant. Tha Thump tha thump. Tha Thump tha thump. Tha Thump tha thump. No... and yes... Cursed yes... but a fighter. Ah... you knew her magic. Knew what she did to you.
"Did she offer to heal you?" Constant but fast. Tha Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Yes... There was reluctance in this.
"Did Wanheda free you?" fast but constant. Tha Thump tha thump. Tha Thump tha thump. Tha Thump tha thump. Yes... a willing yes... She was loyal to Clarke... Wanhead now knew how to fight her enemy.
"Was I the only option to help fight Alie?" slow. Tha Thump tha thump. No...
"Why pick me, because of Titus?" slow but constantly getting faster with each moment. Tha Thump tha thump... Thump thump... Yes and No... Titus? No context to the name given the confusion at the mention of the name, but maybe actions of how Ontari won her conclave, maybe Roan.
"Are you Octavia's friend?" Constant. Tha Thump... tha thump. Yes...
"Were you close to her?" Constant. Tha Thump... tha thump... Yes... She was...
"Do you worry about her" Constant. Tha Thump.. tha thump... Yes... Greatly...
"Are you scared of Adria?" Slow. Tha Thump. No... Maybe out of the guilt out of her actions to the sick girl.
"She is a Nightblood?" slow but was getting faster. Tha Thump tha thump thump thump thump thump thump thump. This was a concern to her with this new information. The oh crap... no wonder you were pissed at us!
"You didn't know?" Slow but constant. Tha thump tha thump... Tha Thump... No...
"Is your offer to stay a way to make up for your actions to me?" Constant. Tha Thump tha thump. Yes... the light swallowing clenched it.
"Are the maps to be used to prevent what happened to my Kru from happening again?" Raven's heart rate was constant but was slowing down as an understanding between the two women was reached. Tha Thump tha thump... Tha Thump tha thump... Yes... to save many!
Luna grinned.
"You can speak now." Raven blinked a few times looking around the room.
"What did you do?" Raven voiced worriedly.
"Something I picked up over the years. It drives children crazy when they try to lie to me." This is when Adria rolled over in her bed to look at Raven.
"Mummon does it all the time whenever I get into trouble. It is her way of learning the truth and about the character of a person." Adria spoke as she looked at Raven. "So... is it true that you used your magic to fight Alie?" Raven nodded.
"Not Magic... Just knowledge that has been lost." Adria seemed to relax some. Luna watched as a connection started to form between the Skaikru woman and her adoptive daughter. Luna wanted to see how this played out. Raven seemed to be a bit more relaxed around her daughter than herself.
"Do you think I will be able to head to the sea again? I mean liked to swim, but floating was really fun." Adria spoke as she tried to relax. Luna sensed that the girl at times was more fish than person given the number of times she wound up in the water and had to be fished out.
"I used to float to in the Sky. I mean I had to wear a suit to keep the air near my body but I used to float as part of my job working on the station."
"You flew?" Adria exclaimed.
"Once... coming down from the sky, but Floating is what I did a lot of when I had to work on the station while it was still in the sky." There was a pause from Raven. "I miss that. The freedom, being weightless. Seeing the ocean stretch out from the ends of the horizon."
"Same here... I liked to watch the storms a little after sunset, how the lightening danced across the sky."
"How the lighting seemed to jump from cloud to cloud along long distances." Raven replied. "I saw the same thing too just from very high up."
"They almost dance." Adria spoke.
"They do... I could almost hear the song they were dancing to."
"My father Boo and my Mummon would break out the drums and play some."
"You like drums?" Raven spoke.
"I do..." There was a pause from Adria. "I was going to get my first dive clothes for my birthday along with my own hand drum." Luna thought of the drum that she had made for Adria and stashed in one of the machine rooms on the rig. A place that they may never return to in light of recent events.
"Maybe after this mess passes you can get your drum." Raven spoke as Luna grinned.
"I would like that." Luna for the first time started to see something in this young woman that soothed her. Adria seemed to at ease. Both individuals wounded, but had a fighting spirit to go on. They didn't fight for war. They fought to be better, to be stronger than they had the previous day. Ontari had called it the "Good Strife" and Luna had started to understand what that meant. Battle not for war, battle to improve and grow stronger in the light of struggle before you. To seek a higher thing, a greater thing larger than yourself.
Lexa would have loved to have spent time with these two.
The stories that Lexa might have told these two of Luna's"I am Death days.
Lexa… I forgive you.
With those words Luna decided to do her part in the fight ahead. No more villages would fall like her's had done.
"Raven... The maps you want me to look at, where are they at?" Luna acknowledged.
"Ah... they are in main hall, near the repair bay... I can..." Luna rose a hand.
"The main hall we came through when we were brought here?" Raven nodded. "I will find my way there. Watch over my daughter." Luna commented. "She likes you." Luna said leaving Raven with Adria. Walking through the door Luna sensed that for now her child was safe but the threat was still coming. If Luna had any chance to help protect her the best thing she could do was give Skaikru the knowledge to find out where this plague was going to strike next. She was going to listen, watch and speak with open eyes. She had to... She wasn't going what happened to her Kru happen again. Knowledge was the weapon for winning this war and not her fists.
Thank you Augwa.
Jasper was letting Ontari relax some as the large rover traveled northwest along the old highway route. Word had come their way that someone had attacked the old agricultural station and had entrenched themselves into it. So far, the work crew was safe, but in light of recent events Roan had given the Hundred orders to remove the squatters from the station within a day of their arrival or he was going to march the entire ice Nation army on the place. Bellamy understood as he helped Ontari put a team together.
For the most part, the team wasn't all Ice Nation, what they needed was individuals who had knowledge of the inside of Agro Station. Jasper, Monty, and Bryan had been selected given their background with the station. Harper was chosen for weapon usage. Bellamy was chosen for his command skills in battle. Though the others had been chosen for other reasons Valkari was a tracker, Monkey was able to climb to any place on the structure. Harper's friend Senua was watching over Monkey's wife and child back in Arkadia. Ontari's place on the team wasn't so much as team commander, but as team liaison between them and the Ice Nation.
Ontari looked like shit when it came to her new extended family. In light of the events that had happened with Luna and her daughter... well Jasper had heard her speaking of her doubts and fears to the previous Commanders. No matter how scared Ontari was... there was a part of her that felt comfortable when she was around her "pack". The number of ambassadors seemed to almost welcome the fact Jasper was in the room at times as she tended not to want to attack them but wanted to listen more to what they had to say. With the widespread of boar attacks on the rise Ontari's attention wouldn't have been focused on the meaning on the matter if Jasper and her hadn't been doing all of that heavy reading at night. The pieces were coming together in such a way that Ontari was starting to understand the larger picture of the ecological crisis at hand.
The widespread appearance of packs of boars terrorizing the land only started to make sense when Ontari remembered an article she and Jasper had read about the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Given that boars were omnivorous creatures, they were trying their best to find insects and grubs in the area before they moved forward to eating the various mushrooms in the area. If the animals were moving towards eating the non-healthy toxic variety along with hunting for larger animals to feast upon, this was getting bad. So far in the past week, several hunting parties had returned with several boars to the point that they had a rover full of them. But the destruction these animals were doing was worse than roving pack of wolves terrorizing the area.
A pack of coywolf pups had sought shelter in one of the rovers and so far had been adopted by several of the Kru after their mother died protecting them from the boar herd. To many of the members of Skaikru these animals signified the impact of the disaster they were facing down. Combine that with the fact that the shelters would have to deal with large numbers of depression, alcoholism and suicide due to the stress of relocation. The situation was slowly becoming harsher as each day passed as survival was started to become paramount over the niceties of society. In other cases, society was breaking along the edges and it was effecting everyone with deaths, murders and suicides in the surrounding villages. Most of that was being covered under the cloud of a Alie curse being placed on those settlements. In other cases, some pretty dark stuff had come to the surface and some couldn't deal with the stress of the things they had done.
Jasper's friend Bree had nearly taken her own life through a near trifecta of overdosing herself on jobi nut tea, slit wrists and hanging herself after seeing her demons come to life. Niylah and Ontari had been the ones to find her after Bree decided to drown her noise of her suffering out via playing loud music.
Ironically it was that music that had saved Bree's life... that and the blood loss. Between Bree hanging from the ceiling naked, the drugs racing through her system, the blood loss had slowed her heart in such a way that it actually kept her body from processing the poison and her dying. Given the piles of clothes around her, they had plenty of bandages to treat her injuries. Bree's fumbling her death had in the end had saved her life. Now they had to give her a reason to keep on living.
Niylah had remembered a potion made of some herbs that caused temporary memory loss that was used by the Trikru to keep prisoners and traumatized warriors docile until they could be interrogated back at their camps. It was one of the few things the grounder trader had learned from her late father that had come as a great benefit considering recent events. Niylah had nearly a cottage business in creating the stuff of Skaikru's healers.
So far the potion had worked in that it had kept Bree from remembering who she was and the fact she had tried to kill herself. Bree would not be the perky party girl she had been for some time, but a little bit of escaping reality was what she needed.
Bree was so much a mythological Maenad with her love of inhibition, fornication and music. The girl needed hope and if they needed to make her forget some of her ways until the crisis past to keep her alive, then so be it. Bree would probably hate them, but she wasn't the only Nymph-like person they had to deal with in this crisis.
Liam had told him about the pregnant Trikru mother who had hung herself and how he and Nyko had to C-section the baby into the world before the unborn child ran out of air. The woman was so much like Bree, it was scary as Liam recounted the stories the girl's father had spoken of the girl's life. Bree and this girl would have been partying throughout the villages at some festival clothing optional as they went for the most fertile male specimens. Given the recent events combined with the stress everyone was feeling, it was understood that not everyone was going to be saved or make it through living in the shelters.
It was like hearing the horror stories about the early days of the Great Burn on the Ark. People having a joyful time before they up and killed themselves. DNRs they were called.
Jasper had thought about doing that a few times over the last few weeks, but had been stopped by one thing in his life... Ontari. After all of the crap he had been through, he wasn't going to lose another chance to get things right. He was going to be a husband, father, uncle, whatever to this woman he loved. He was going to live his life by this woman he loved.
He was going to fight for the people he had lost, Roma, Maya, Shay, Lincoln... Wolf... Looking at Bellamy, Jasper knew who he was fighting for even though the woman he loved liked members of the same team. Maybe that was why Bellamy looked out for Bree so much after Gina had died.
Bellamy had sat by Bree during that day after she had been sewn up. Jasper knew that Bree had been part of the harem of girls that had been with Bellamy after they had landed, but to see the girl so vulnerable really hit hard. Not since Roma's death at the hands of Trikru or Gina's at the hands of the Ice Nation had Bellamy been seen this upset. This was the girl who was the life of the party, dancing, playing, and giggling. But since Alie and this entire end of the world mess... How many others would be choosing to "go out leaving a good-looking corpse" instead of dying like "some deformed monster from radiation."
Ontari had decided the safest thing to do for the girl was to make sure that she wouldn't run anywhere... so other than a blanket... Bree had been tied naked to the infirmary bed until Niylah's potion had taken affect. After it did, Bree was a little scared, but she wasn't going to kill herself for the time being which was good. Though Bree did have flashes of her past... It wasn't anything that she couldn't deal with... Forgetting some of the major shit of your past was sometimes good, forgetting your paints... not so much. Even if Bree got comments on her good looking naked ass when she had snuck out of the infirmary to scout out Arkadia.
So far Bree knew that she was a Delinquent... dated Bellamy... had sex with Bellamy... She remembered some Grounders attacking... that part Niylah had cleared up some as being understood as a misunderstanding for trespassing onto their lands, that and the decent ship being off course. The Pike mess was being explained... Though Bree was a little scared at times when she had learned what had happened. Clarke and Ontari interceded in talking about the politics that Clarke had to go through in resolving the conflict. If the Arkers followed some societal rules they would be left alone. Given the amount of blood that Bree had split on her clothing ruining them, forced Niylah to dress Bree in some traditional Grounder clothing. As a result of this wardrobe change the Grounders started to leave her alone.
Clarke seeing the opportunity to mend some fences between Skairku and the rest of the Kongeda, Clarke had decided to put Bree on learning the songs and oral history from the Various Kru as a way to keep the former party girl going. The Grounders loved their oral history and giving Bree something to do other than mope about eased the tension some as she found a purpose in keeping something alive that was close to her heart... music and tending to horses.
Now as they started to approach the line of mountains that made up the northern range of the boarder of Azgeda Ontari shifted some. The tension in her body screamed at the uncomforting situation she found herself in.
"I don't know if this is my home anymore?" Ontari spoke as she saw the white hand on the banner marking the lands on which they were entering. Traumatized servant girl wanted to run, Commander of the Thirteen Kru needed to stay.
"Home is where you make family... remember that." Jasper spoke as he reached to take her hand. The jagged teeth of the palm of her armored glove dug into Jasper's hand as she reciprocated back at Jasper's gesture.
Ontari's complicated history was something that she needed to work through.
Like everyone... in this age of endings there was a chance to have a new beginning.
Winter was coming... now all they had to do was to endure it till the spring that would come in the next two plus years.
"I will..." Ontari spoke as she steeled herself for what was ahead. Ontari looked at those around her and knew that she wasn't alone in this fight to come. She had a pack now and they would look out for each other: Ice Wolf, Herb Wolf, Tech Wolf, Achka Wolf, Sky Wolf, Wolf Monkey, Tree Wolf, and Corn Wolf.
This was a battle she would fight... and not alone as she had been in the past.
The Queen was dead.
May she rot in Hell.
Luna moved to help her daughter undress before taking her own clothes off and walking into the Arkadia showers. Her child had lost a whole lot of weight since her sickness. It was scary seeing her daughter's bones be highlighted through the flesh of her skin. It tore at her as she sensed that seeing her child get like this was her fault, but it wasn't... It had been that cursed Witch... Alie.
Since her time with the Maps Skaikru had of the paths of great storms of the past, Luna had started to realize that her home had fallen within a predictable path of one of these storms. Given the regularity of when they would come Luna sensed that she and what was left of her people were lucky to have made it to shore. But the punch in the stomach came when Luna traced the path of one of these storm routes and saw that it crossed the path of one of the burning poisoned buildings. The poisoned smoke had been carried via these storms right to the home of her people and the result was horrific.
Her own ignorance on the matter she had been faced with is what had cost her nearly over a hundred of her kru. The horrors and the price she had to face was her's alone. If she was to be punished... Then let them take her... But the gods decided that would not be her fate. This was a lesson she had to learn... evil finds a way to attack the most isolated individuals. Only by knowing that an evil exists can one be able to fight it.
Adria had nearly been that price.
Now as every motherly instinct Luna had coursing through her body screamed, Luna realized that she had to fight to protect her daughter. Even if she detested violence, there were other ways to fight and that is what she had to do to aid in her daughter's and her people's survival.
Several of the women in the shower looked worried as she moved Adria through. They were not looking at her with hate, just worry... that was when Luna dropped one of the natural Loofah sponges that she and Adria were planning on using to bathe with. The large sliced up pieces of dried squash that many kru used for bathing, catching a woman's mistral blood and wiping their behinds with were a cheap and easy way to clean themselves. Luna had found someone trading them with the Skaikru villagers and had been thankful for something familiar in this strange sky ship village.
"Luna..." a woman spoke as she saw the off yellow sponge bounce a few times along the shower house's floor as it escaped from Adria's grip. Reaching down the woman brought the item up and handed it back to Luna. "... It is alright... I was a friend of Lincoln's." the woman spoke as she looked at the naked mother.
"I... I..." Luna felt awkward. "...Thank you..." Luna had been somewhat interested in men and women since she was younger, but with Boo... she had found someone who made the world for her. Looking at this attractive woman Luna had to force herself back to her role as mother so that Adria could be bathed. Luna held back any fantasy of kissing this woman and turned her attention to Adria. But learning that this woman had known of her friend Lincoln had given her a bit of a respite from the recent events.
"It's alright... He spoke of you often," the woman knelt down before Adria. "So... you got tired lying in bed?" Adria nodded. Adria still had the bald spots from where her hair had fallen out from the radiation dose she had endured. The gods were looking out for her little girl. Maybe Adria's hair could grow back in time. Hearing Lincoln's name had broken the surface of the bucket of ice and Adria had wanted to know more.
"Raven stayed with me for a little while." Adria indicated. There was tension throughout her body and Luna sensed it. "We spoke of the friends we lost."
"Oh..." The woman spoke sensing there was something more to the girl as Luna and Adria caught a look at the tattoos on the woman's skin.
"You have Kru markings..." The woman looked at Adria a little embarrassed.
"Yeah... Cara the Sky witch? Went Grounder after the death of her friend Lincoln."
"Are you a witch like Alie?" There was some fear in Adria's voice.
"No... A Wicca. A worshiper of nature."
"I worship the sea." Adria responded.
"Mother Water..." Cara spoke. "She must be pissed at Alie unleashing that poison cloud into the storms."
"You know of Aguwa... the Sea Mother!" Cara chewed on it with her thoughts.
"Aguwa... Must be your variation of her name." Cara relaxed some. "Earth Mother and Horned Father... are the names of the deities I worship. But they are linked to the five elements, Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit." Luna listened to the woman speak. "They have to be in balance. What Alie did was throw the elements out of balance."
"I have no home because of this unbalance..." Adria spoke... Luna felt the worry through her daughter's form speak volumes. "Your Kru marks are so strange?"
"They represent the times where my own life was thrown into upheaval and state of imbalance as well as when order was returned to them." Cara moved to touch one of the cluster of markings on her skin. "Placing them on my skin is a reminder that order and disorder are two sides of the same coin. Sometimes you need order and other times you need disorder to balance things out." There was a long pause from the woman as she moved to touch a specific set of symbols on her flesh and lingered there sensing the importance of that set of glyphs on her skin. "Alie stole my spirit and shoved in something in its place. Having Clarke liberate it and return it to me it is something I will never forget... though I remember the actions of what my body did in that creature's name I can only hope that the gods I believe in are forgiving."
"What do you remember?" Luna spoke... The young woman's shoulders sagged. To be a host to these demons must have been something horrific if this woman was wishing for her gods to forgive her for actions that were beyond her control.
"The most vivid memories I have are attacking a man getting off of a boat with a shock staff... a non-lethal weapon of my people... it is used to capture individuals without hurting them too much. I was wearing stolen armor at the time and... I just jabbed him several times... I... remember this strange tattoo he had on his forehead, like an inverted fanged crescent moon... much like the symbol of Horned Father..." Luna started to worry. "I never heard a scream that loud in the City of Light as he was dragged there against his will."
"Can you trace this symbol in the air?" Luna started to worry as the woman started to trace the symbol in the air. To Luna's horror it was the symbol that mirrored that of her late Husband and Adria's father Boo.
"I remember feeling the violation in attacking someone who might be a worshipper of my gods... I just kept hitting him with the weapon until he passed out. I felt Alie urging my body to continue... Alie stole my memories of my faith, my life, and my soul every time I fought back. Then I put a chip into his mouth..." Cara froze when she looked over at Luna as this woman relived the most horrific moment of her life as her soul was being attacked and Boo's was stolen away so that Alie's demon (re)asserted control... The woman was in a trance as she spoke the words she had overheard during her possession. She was trapped in reliving that horrific moment again and again much like Luna did whenever she remembered killing her Brother Giais. To this very day, she could still feel the texture of her brother's neck on her fingers. This woman was no different. "Accessing data on Floukru base of operations... One-hundred and twenty inhabitants... fifteen children... Leader..." Luna started to realize that this woman was the one who while possessed had placed the vessel of the demon into her beloved. Luna didn't know what was worse, seeing the vessel of the one who had destroyed your life or knowing that the one who commanded that flesh had been powerless to fight back against the one who had pirated her. "Behavioral profile analysis... psychological trauma based on murder of sibling... severe aversion of conflict... extensive combat training, hand to hand combat skill set, weapons combat skill set, battle strategy comprehension." Cara was on the verge of breaking down as the horrors came back to her. Several others in the baths started to look worried as Cara collapsed to the floor sobbing.
"Alie's demon was attacking your soul while she was having her spawn in your flesh assault Boo?" Cara's nod only confirmed the horrors. Alie had learned of her weaknesses through Boo's memories.
"You knew him?!" Luna knelt to the young woman.
"He was my husband... Adria's father... and I had to kill him to save my Kru from harm." Luna reached out to the young woman and embraced her. "Your body was the vessel... Taken by force to attack those you knew and did not know." Cara's eyes pleaded for mercy.
"I..."
"Hold your tongue Cara of Skaikru..." Luna pushed several strands of wet hair from the young woman's face. Luna moved her hand softly down Cara's face before placing her hand on the base of the girl's jaw. Luna with a firm grip could snap the woman's neck. The woman knew this too. "Your body was used to much harm... you were in a losing battle against one who was attacking your very spirit. Take note... you have given me some peace in knowing that my beloved did not go down so easily. You fought a foe... as relentlessness as they were, you took note of what they were doing in some hope that what you learned might aid in the witch's defeat if you were ever freed." Luna's eyes grew cold as she moved behind the girl and proceeded to pin her down with her entire body. Several individuals started to come close as Luna leaned in a whispered into Cara's ear. "Aigiv ai op gon nemiyon kom lanik-de... " Luna tighten her grip around the woman. "Repeat it!"
"Ai giv ai op gon nemiyon kom lanik-de. I give myself... to the miracle... of the sea."
"Again... but in my tongue only!"
"Ai giv ai op gon nemiyon kom lanik-de." Cara started to realize what Luna wanted.
"Again..."
"Ai giv ai op gon nemiyon kom lanik-de." Luna lighted her grip from Cara's body. The chant to the goddess of the sea was a way to state to the gods that this woman's spirit was to be looked over before any punishment was to be carried out in either thus world or the next.
"The sea brought me peace... Life... Hope... In a place of eternal darkness... I found light... You are a vessel... understand that... Cara Kon Skaikru... you have reclaimed your vessel back from those who had used it. Now you have to deal with the fact that every time someone sees you... they will only see the demon that once inhabited your body. I thank you in letting me know that my beloved fought to protect us even as he was violated to gain knowledge of me and our once mighty home."
Cara felt Luna release her as Luna looked into the eyes of the woman who was as much as victim as vessel as her husband had been.
"Luna." Cara was stopped as Luna raised her hand.
"Your hands are covered in blood. Your soul is not. Count yourself lucky as I do not practice: blood must have blood. Though I do practice the code of: respect and honor your gods for they will be the only ones who will give you mercy in the next world." Cara nodded as she slowly started to move away from Luna.
"I understand..." Cara nodded as she turned to look at Adria. "You have my fealty and my life Adria of Floukru." Adria walked over and touched Cara on the face.
"I do not ask for that... But I thank you in knowing that my father's spirit was not in his body when he died. That the demon my mother slew is now gone." Cara sighed.
"Alie imprisoned him in Summerland in the City of Light. He was one of the souls that Bekka helped free after Clarke defeated Alie in the Singularity. I guess he was the one who has been gathering the information on the Maps that Clarke, Ontari and whatever Ambassador has been looking at." Cara swallowed hard.
"Boo has been helping in gathering the information in making those maps?" Cara nodded.
"As far as I know? That sort of material and how it was organized when Clarke did her data dive with Ontari was fairly in-depth. It was like someone who knew the seas knew what to place on the maps." Cara confessed what she knew.
"Who would know who made these maps?" Luna expressed.
"Clarke and Ontari would know." Luna moved to sit on the floors of the bath house. The gods had willed her here. Maybe it was not so much to save her kru... but to save her soul.
I give myself... to the miracle... of the sea.
Boo...
You want me here by these people so that your soul can find peace in knowing that we are safe.
Luna moved to hug her daughter as the first time in a long time the god of the sea had provided her some hope that her beloved's last action might be the start of a new beginning.
Adria felt her hair being cut. It was strange as she felt large sections being cut and shaved away to even out the damage of her hair falling out. However, as the cool air hit her scalp she saw her mother start to grin. The bottom of Adria's stomach felt raw and food tasted nasty to her with every meal, but that too would pass once Jasper and Ontari got back with that medicinal herb to make her tummy feel better. Right now, seeing her mother smile made her feel better. Maybe being a Nightblood wouldn't be a bad thing. Her mom was a fisherman and leader and Ontari was a healer and a leader... Maybe she could learn to be a Kanic like Raven... and learn to lead people in making great sky ships again.
As a large swath of her hair fell, Adria grew concerned by the large amount of hair she was losing but the feeling of the blade comforted her as it brought about a sense of normality. The last time Adria had her hair cut this short was during the summer time when her home got unbearably hot. Occasionally Adria would reach up while the blade was away to get a sense of what was happening with her hair. Noticing that action by Adria the person cutting her hair handed her a mirror. What she saw made her heart jump.
The places where her hair had fallen out had been mirrored on the opposite side of her head by being shaved. The remaining hair was trimmed down to create a pallet where an outline of a wave had been shaved in. The rest of her hair was intact though it had been formed into a narrow long Mohawk mass on her head that made it look like curving froth of a wave. The roots of her blond hair was growing dark from the lack of lemons dying to it, but now with the way her hair was sitting, it looked like the dark waters of her home.
"You like?" The woman spoke. Adria grinned as she wrapped her arms around the woman. It was strange to meet someone from another Kru who had been part of her mother's original people. The blacked curved wave marking on the woman's arm were like her mother's. Given recent events they were fresh but spoke that several had been from her defeating several demons possessed people as Niylah did her best to keep away from Alie's cult. One of these demons had been Raven and that was a shared kill with one of Clarke's warriors.
"I like..." Adria spoke feeling normal again. Adria needed to eat more but the way her face looked made her look older. More adult. In the next hour Clarke would be meeting with her and her mother to ask about the dive she had done into the realm of the dead. Adria knew her father was there... but to walk into such a place such as the "Next World" and return from it must have been an adventure.
Adria had listened to Raven speak of her time in the sky and now as she had sat for this haircut, she had listened to Niylah talk about the woods. Both places of strange wonder and adventure... But this next tale would be the hardest as it would have be about the place where only a few had been able to return from by sheer luck and will. The land of the dead.
Adria listened to the wind blowing through the trees and sensed that it sounded somewhat like the waves of her home. But the sounds of the animals is what caught her attention. The large owl that roosted in the top the Skaikru's arch had over the last few nights become thin. It was pretty bad when the poor thing was no longer afraid of people and was eating dried meat like a cat from one of the warriors on guard duty. But the puppies that some of the Skaikru had found had started to become a welcome sight as their energy spoke of the hope to come.
Though not dogs, they liked being around food and behaved when people were around. Several of the pups had been named and found a place among the people there as they help bring comfort to the injured. One of them named Bullworth, given how his ears looked, was sitting near her and was studying her with his green eyes.
Bullworth liked following Harper and Senua around as he liked running with them. But as he started to sniff around her, the gentle pup started to sneak up to some of Adria's cut off hair and started to realize that though sick she wasn't a threat. Adria had lost her father and Bullworth sensed a kindred spirit in that he had lost his mother. Adria wanted to run, but the stick Bullworth had sought out and brought to her stated that he wanted to play with her. Though her sickness prevented her to... Bullworth sensed that if she threw... he would fetch.
Senua... had been in a dark place and Bullworth and Harper had slowly brought the former Reaper back to a sense of who she was before the Mountain Men had gotten a hold of her. The Reapers were said to be monsters that feasted on human flesh... Hunted like wolves or worse... Bears...
Adria had seen a bear on the shoreline once when her father had taken her out on one of the trawlers to fish. The large hulking animal was by the shore seeking out some fish. It was strange for such a creature to get close the ocean, but the river emptying out into the sea was where it was heading for its meal. The strange bulky beast was a creature that almost looked playful. Senua may have been less of the playful type given some of the stories about her. Boo, her father had stated that Bears were a creature that could tear you apart if you came across them, it was best to avoid them if you could and when possible knowing that if you saw one, it was best to keep your distance.
If Senua had acted like a bear... then maybe she would like fruit as her father had spoken that these animals liked fruit.
Offer fruit at a distance and be friend.
Just don't throw it... That would make bears mad. And possibly Senua.
Maybe making Senua her friend would take time. But it could be done... Harper was Senua's friend...
Ontari had gotten to known the woman and let her near the Nightbloods that she was in command of... Then maybe given that she was changing into a Nightblood like her mother... then maybe because of that she could become close to Senua as her friend. Nightbloods and Hundred had wolf spirits in them.
Since wolves and bears tended to hunt on the same grounds, then maybe Senua the bear would like Adria the wolf from the sea.
In light of the recent journey that Ontari and the rest of the Warriors of the Hundred had to make. Senua had been given the role of watching over the Nightbloods or more like them watching over her during that phase of her being recently freed from her chains. Bullworth had been not afraid of her as he had brought the former Reaper back to her humanity as her bear spirit was calmed down. Somehow Bullworth had dragged her mom to meet with Senua and the two had started to speak about their pain and darkness.
Being around Luna had been almost peaceful as Senua had wanted to learn to cope with her own inner darkness like her mother had. Reapers had been seen as monsters, but to have been resouled by Skaikru's magic and medicine was something that was remarkable. Some had seen a monster, but all Adria could see was a scared woman who like many who had come to her Metal island home wanted to find peace. Senua was powerful and yet gentle, it was like the woman was scared of her own power. Maybe the bear in her needed to have more apples and fruit given to it along with some fish.
Bears liked fish and when Adria was more able enough she was going to get her fishing line or spear and land the biggest fish for Senua.
Bullworth started to nuzzle over to Adria's feet and look up at her. Long dark muzzle and gray fur and low-lying ears the coywolf looked up at her before yawning. His body language spoke: I like you, can I sit with you?
Adria reached out and held out the back of her hand and Bullworth sniffed it. The response was: Alright, you good person, I sit here with you.
The animal seemed to have found a new pack and friend in the process.
Niylah grinned.
"Looks like you made a friend." Niylah spoke as she moved to dust off Adria's shoulders. Bullworth moved his head up and scuffed a throaty gargle/half bark in confirmation.
"Yeah..." Adria spoke as the animal looked at her as he slowly looked around as small group of Azgeda warriors approached the gate with a large trunk with them. This caught people's attention as it brought several Skaikru and Trikru guards to the front of the gate. Adria had heard tales of the Azgeda-Trikru conflict growing up, but other than Ontari... who had been nice... she hadn't seen another Azgeda around... though she may have... just that their marking might have been buried under bandages.
There was tension in the air as several guards held their weapons at the ready.
A voice announced over the loud box that Clarke was needed at the gate. It had something to do with something that King Roan of Azgeda was delivering a package for Ontari and the rest of Skaikru. A peace offering between Azgeda and Skaikru.
The look on Clarke of Skaikru's face was of worry and concern.
Her mother sensed it too and moved to speak with the Skai Princess herself about what had troubled her.
Clarke watched as a large chest was delivered to the gates of Arkadia with ice Nation guards around it. Clarke Sighed as she knew what the contents could possibly be. Walking through the gates she was greeted by a guard on watch who spoke to her.
"Ma'am. These Warriors showed up a little while ago with that crate." Clarke sighed hard.
"Crap... Roan." Clarke shook her head with that she walked over to the guard surrounding the large chest. "Are the contents for Ontari's judgement?" The large warrior just nodded.
Clark stared at the situation before her.
Realizing that the riot that would take place when everyone in Arcadia realized that the person who had slain so many of their fellow Arkers was within this box was going to be a headache for everyone here.
Clarke pounded on the box. The muffled growl from within spoke volumes. Clarke put her weight down on the lid to keep it from being thrown open and looked in to see Echo. The warrior looked furious.
Looking back at Arcadia Clark realized that she had to come up with a plan in order to prevent the mess that was coming. Seeing Luna and Emori, the seed of an idea was starting to sprout. Clark hoped that she had enough time to pull up a small miracle and possibly save a life in the process. Throw in Niylah into the set... Clarke might have a chance to pull this off.
"Get some shovels... I want a hole dug just outside of the walls big enough to hold this chest." Clarke spoke to the guard near her. Taking the hint that she wanted to talk to these warriors in private the guard left as several other warriors approached from a distance.
"You plan to bury it?" The warrior declared in his native tongue.
"She is not my kill... she is Ontari's. I just want the contents to know some of what her victims went through before they died." The gulp spoke volumes. "When Ontari gets back, we will dig up the contents out for her to properly punish."
"What happened to Blood Must Not Have Blood?"
"This isn't Blood Must Have Blood... It is the Right of the Kill... Punish the one who needs to be punished, not the innocent... or the messenger, but the one truly with the blood on their hands."
"Then burying her..."
"My way of keeping an eye on her ass." The images of horror could be seen across the warriors faces. This wasn't the gentle Clarke of Skaikru they had heard of; this was the pissed off Wanheda that slaughtered the Mountain Men where they stood.
The image of being buried alive was enough to make these men think twice about questioning her.
Clarke hoped that image was enough to ensure that her plan worked.
This was going to be a game of Three card Monty, mixed with a game of Slamball if it was going to be pulled off.
For Echo's sake, it had work... or the woman for good or ill was going to be killed by those who had lost family and friends of the members of Agro Station who had died in the creation of Asphodel Meadows.
Erik Jackson was watching Niylah tend to the injured as she came in to help the medical staff. Over the last few days, he and the Trikru trader had gotten to know each other. Niylah seemed to have known what Abby's daughter Clarke had done during those months she had lived in the woods. Occasionally Niylah would let it slip that she and Clarke had shared a bed together... Friends with Benefits as it was called in the old days. But it was the segments of their conversations they were having illustrated some of what Clarke was dealing with in her life. Clarke's Trauma was not so much in killing people, but in the killing of innocent Children that hit home to her core as a healer.
Clarke had spent days after the Mount Weather Battle going through and taking the bodies of the children out of the mountain and properly burying them. Clarke was so much like her mother. Maybe that was the reason that seeing so many dead innocents had forced the young woman not to want to come home. Niylah had been that oasis during that time of pain. Erik nodded at this.
The Griffin women tended to want to take the weight of the world upon their shoulders. For those like Erik who were their friends and confidants... They had to step in to pull them back. Crap... Clarke had been a mess because of Lexa's betrayal at the Mountain. Clarke had been so open with the Commander, but to be forced to take on a foe alone and Lexa breaking her heart... No wonder Clarke wasn't more screwed up.
Lexa had come clean in that Emerson had learned that he had the members of Lexa's extended family with in the walls of Mount Weather. Would Clarke have been the same way if the Mount Weather personnel had learned that they had her Mother? But to dwell on the might have been wasn't conductive to what needed to be done. Lexa had done her best to patch things up with Clarke prior to her death... Clarke was still hurting but knowing that some uploaded version of Lexa was keeping an eye out for her had allowed Clarke to move on. Maybe it was the reason that Niylah had gotten the blessing to become Clarke's lover. Both had been through loss and pain, and in a way, they had become the center of each other's world.
Niylah was proving to be a decent field medic. Some of the potions that she knew of were being added to the index of medical supplies that Arkadia so needed. Even Emori's "Sleep cloth" was added to the supply list. Amazing how it was created with a mix of alcohol and remnants of old Lithium batteries. A common thieves tool here on the ground, but right now in controlled amounts it could be used to knock people out for surgical operations. It was mid 1800s level tech, but it was better than nothing.
Even Niylah's memory potion was something that he wanted to do some more studies on. So far it was useful in treating the attempted suicides of several individuals by causing them to temporarily forget why they were in so much pain.
The memories would come back slowly but without the heavy burdens that the "uncut and raw" deeply emotional versions had in their past. Bree was a little off center at times as she was recovering. She had questions that she would raise at times about herself and other things. Mostly Bree's questions had been about generic stuff, but given that last time that he had seen her, Bree had adopted a sort of messy Grounder look to her and was hanging near the stables. Maybe it was being around those large animals that provided a respite to Bree's troubled and conflicted emotional state. The large animals and her seemed to get along on a spiritual level.
Though hearing stories from the various riders and messengers was enough for her to start learning about the far off places that she might want to visit and become curious about this new world again.
The horses seemed to have taken a liking to her as well as several riders who were talking with her. Even Lincoln's horse Janus had taken to like her as they were feeling the loss of a way of life or a person near them. Because of this Clarke had asked Bree to learn some of Grounder Oral History as a way to gain information as well as give her a purpose in the days to come. It was rough, but the challenge seemed to have given the former party girl a new lease of life. Maybe it was that part of Bree's personality that made it easy for her to mesh into this world. Because of this, Bree had learned much about the various plagues, wars, as well as various large political events that had taken place in the past that would prove vital in the years to come. The sheer wealth of information Bree had gained was becoming vital for the various members of Arkadia to come to understand the Grounders better and the Grounders more about them.
As long as Bree was kept social, she tended not to want to return to being a raving wild creature she had been. Though a little wildness could be useful as Niylah decided to tweak the dosage on Bree some. Bree would still need to be taking the potion for a little while longer but its effects had proved helpful in allowing Bree to start to retake her life. Erik watched as Niylah handed the cup to Bree to drink from as the trading post woman moved to put some ointment on the rope burn on the girl's neck. Bree had lucked out by the number of ways that she had wanted to kill herself as most of them counteracted some part of the consistent death she was seeking. Seeing the young woman have the raw spot on her neck being treated, there was a sense that Bree would become stronger because of this experience. Bree seemed to rock some from the soft humming Niylah was doing keeping her mind calm from the tenderness of her neck wound. That was when Clarke entered the Room.
"Niylah..." Clarke spoke before going to the local Grounder Dialect. Now... to say Clarke spoke something that caught her attention was an understatement as Niylah came to a slow stop. Erik hadn't caught enough of the Grounder language to make sense of it, but it had something about killing or death. But Erik got the answer quickly from the Trikru Trader.
"Right to the Kill?" Niylah spoke in full English. This caught Bree's attention.
"Wait... we created that rule after Wells died... when Murphy got mistaken for being his killer." Bree seemed to bring things into perspective. It wasn't often that most of the older adults or Non-delinquents heard about these kids early experiences on the ground.
The weight of that decision could be felt as Erik realized that he might have to step in. If these three women were going to break the law, then he had to be obligated to tell Kane and Abby about what was going on.
"Clarke... we are talking about screwing with people so that..." Bree concerns were coming through.
"Bree... If we don't do this... then many will die... We have Blood must have Blood and that cost Finn his life. No... We must do this so that the other Kru can see us as being strong. Having a moral code. Yes, I want to have a trial so that Echo and the others involved in the killing of the members of Agro station can be found innocent or guilty of their crimes... I am not talking about letting these people escape or loose upon the world like I did with Emerson... But I want to ensure that the code that we live by here on the Ground is understood. Our parents might not have been in our position when we landed... the crap we went through misjudging someone for a single action. No... The Charter says that a person charged with a crime must have a fair trial. I don't want a mob rule incident taking place again. I want justice... But I want it done with honor. This is Ontari's Right of the Kill. If we break this are we any different than those who go out and kill some member of some clan that wronged them. We have to ensure that Ontari shows strength, power, and compassion so that her position of Heda remains intact." Clarke spoke as the other young women came to an understanding.
"Then... we are going to do this we better have a plan." Bree spoke as she felt a belch come up from her stomach. The embarrassment was enough to break the tension.
"Well I have found a few others... They are willing to help." Clarke spoke as she looked around the room.
"Niylah... Could you grab one of those sleep rags that Emori has been making?" The Trikru Trader looked over and nodded.
"How about I get Emori?" Niylah spoke looking back at Clarke.
"That will do..." Clarke spoke with a deep sigh.
"The others?" Bree spoke seeing that she was being looked at by Erik.
"They are elsewhere... I need you to keep the attention and people away from the stables... If someone goes running to them, I need you to ensure that the horses are either set loose or kept in the stables." Clarke presented a shock rod to Bree.
"So... I am not a diversion... I am a guard to ensure if the plan goes south that no one gets away." Bree Sighed.
"Yes... and if all else fails... Don't tell Jasper that I stole a bottle of his Shine."
"Is this going to be a party or is it going to be the same thing that took place at the Bridge?" Bree stated.
"More like pulling a Monty and Jasper when they decided to peek on the girls bathing."
"If all else fails... Flash boobs, cause distraction. Gotcha..."
"Skaikru and your traditions are just weird... but... if it is a plan... I shall flash my breasts too. Though it will be the first time I will do it outside of our bed chambers. If it part of your courtship rights... then." Niylah spoke.
"I know that you were sleeping with Clarke, but..." Bree said as she got up.
"My bed is open to only those who know my heart." Niylah corrected.
"Deep girl... Real deep." Bree expressed.
"That is what Clarke says when we make love." Bree just cleared her throat.
Erik stopped cold as he realized that whatever was up... he had to tell... well minus the fact the part about Niylah and Clarke's nightly sexcapades.
That part would be in the medical records in the event if any vaginal or rectal tearing took place from foresaid act.
Yes, I brought back Bree. I sort of wanted to have a character who was Hundred but was changed by the City of Light in a negative way. Also, I wanted to use and expand upon the lore and types of drugs the Grounder's had to treat PTSD given their society. Most of the research on this drug comes from actual research the DOD is doing on PTSD.
Sorry about the cliff hanger but in the next chapter we get to see what is going to play out.
