"ARGGGG." I yelled as I pushed against the huge Trikru's weapon. My braids hit my neck as I twirled bringing my weapon up to clank against another's. It was like a dance. Sword fighting. My five opponents growled as they lunged, stabbed, swung, clanking against my weapon and none hitting me even once. They were all getting annoyed that they were being bested by a 15 year old. A 15 year old that hadn't even been training since she could walk.

I put a hand behind my back and my sword in front of me smirking. I hadn't been sitting on my ass for the past 2 years that's for sure. I had become stronger, faster, ghostly silent, deadlier. It was all thanks to Lexa's mom. She sat leaning against a tree ever watching and observing me. Her second. I continued and then finally disarmed one sent one flying onto their ass, clanked two of their heads together and then stood over the 5th one with my sword to her throat.

I heard clapping and I looked up and my mom was staring at me happily.

"Good job Clarke." She said.

I couldn't help the grin as I sighed. Finally. You don't even realize how many times I got my ass kicked by these 5 warriors for the past two years…Lexa's mom was trying to kill me I swear to you she was. If it wasn't fighting against 5 warriors till I passed out it was running for my life in the forest being tracked and if found hung up on a pole for the whole night dangling by my hands. I was my mom's best patient in the infirmary. Don't even get me started on hunting…and all the survival skills I had to learn quickly so I didn't get hit with harder training. Lexa's mom once drugged me with a sleeping plant and threw me out into the forest with nothing but a knife to survive. Oh and a note that said I had to survive for a month out there and find my way back. I almost got eaten multiple times by wild animals…yeah…it wasn't fun but trust me I thrived. I wanted to survive and the part that kept me going the most was the look on Lexa's face if she had heard I died during survival training, just imagine when I wrote her after telling her all about it. She wanted to come home and strangle her mother! I kind of laughed at that and told her I was fine. Just a few scratches and a little underfed but I was fine. Yeah Lexa's mother was a tyrant but I respect everything she's done to get me to Lexa's level.

I knew she was secretly being hard on me because she saw the potential I had. God forbid if I wasn't the best second in the camp at the moment. She had me training till I couldn't walk any longer and hardly any down time. I looked over at her and saw the proud smile cross her face before it was gone.

"Clarke…you could have easily finished them faster than that." She chastised.

I sighed and nodded my head.

"My apologies Chief, I was trying to give them a good fight before I ended it."

I saw the amusement flash in Lexa's mom's eyes before she got up from the tree and walked up to me.

"You have done well." She said.

I couldn't keep the pride from showing in my eyes as I smiled up at her.

She put her arm on my shoulder.

"I think you deserve a moment to yourself." She pulled out a rolled parchment and my eye's widened realizing what it was.

"From Lexa? I mean from Heda." I said sheepishly.

The chief laughed and patted me on the head as she handed the paper to me.

"Run along. Go write her back so that I may send it with the messenger that eagerly awaits your reply. Be back by sun down."

I grinned as I ran off towards the bunker to get some drawings to send to Lexa. When I got there I wanted to tear open the letter but I relented. I waited till I had all the candles lit and then I sat down at my desk. I sighed looking at the wax sealed letter it had been 5 months since I last got one and I was worried what it would say. I looked up at all the drawings I have been doing lately and I realized. It was all of her, of Lexa. I missed her terribly. She hasn't been back since our second Ceremony and I knew I couldn't hold it against her but god did I miss her.

I opened the letter and began to read.

Clarke,

I know it's been awhile but Anya is killing me with my training. We just spent 5 months traveling and the first place we went was to the mountains behind Polis. It was cold. Colder then I could ever imagine a place to be. The snow was all around us Clarke. It was nothing I have witnessed before. There are so many things I see every day that I have never seen before thanks to staying at home in Ton DC. We also traveled around to the other clans and spied on them. It was dangerous but we were never caught. It makes me think Clarke. What would happen if we were to unite all of the clans? What I have witnessed from every place is how well we could work together. There are things the Plains clan, the Boat Clan, the Desert Clan and even the Ice clan could give us and we could give them. The resources all of us have could work so much better if we agreed to trade and exchange. Your thoughts on this? I know I shouldn't ask since I have learned many things about leading but I cannot help but think you as well as my mother could help in bringing this to fruition.

This is what I wish to accomplish when I become a warrior as well as finally feeling like I am the Commander. I wish to ally with the 12 clans and bring them together as one. And Clarke, we will be heading to Ton DC very soon. Anya say's there is something my mother wishes to talk about. I feel anxious to see you once again. How much have you changed I wonder. Are you as I remember you? I miss you Sky Girl. Don't let anyone else read this. Indra would have my head if she found me writing such words to you. I feel unlike myself every time I walk out of my tent now and the only solace I get to know I still am Lexa is when I think of you and write to you. I eagerly await your words.

Lexa

I felt my hands trembling as I read the last few words and I couldn't help the heart aching smile grow across my face. She missed me too.

I quickly wrote her back and smiling at what I had written before taking a candle and pouring some wax on it and stamping it. I looked up at the Polaroid hanging on the wall and took it and slipped it in with the letter.

I wasn't going to send any of my drawings to her this time I thought. After all…They were all of her.

I slipped the letter in my pocket and blew the candles out. I scrambled up the ladder running back towards the village. I couldn't help the huge smile that was on my face. She was anxious to see me. I stopped as I was almost back and looked down at myself. I had changed that was for sure.

My blond hair was neatly braided like all the other seconds and the temporary tattoo was intact on my arm. It was applied every morning by our mentor. I stared at it for a second as tribal lines were curving around my bicep and the design of stars inside of it. There was one star that was touching what the Chief mentioned was the ground. I stared at that part of the tattoo. The sky meets the ground. It said a lot for just being a drawing on my arm and I think that's why the Chief picked that particular design.

She pretends like she doesn't care about her daughter or calling us outsiders but she already let us in the day my mother went to her holding me begging to be taken in. I touched it lightly. I was wearing light armor over my dark tank top and black jeans and boots with my sword sheathed to my back. My forearms were wrapped in dark cloth with armor over it as well. Yeah. I was definitely different. Even my chest was bigger. I sighed. It's like all my baby fat went right to my chest because I have no more fat on my body except there which was kind of embarrassing because a lot of the guys in camp were starting to notice and leer at me.

I began to run again and when I made it to the edge of the village I saw the messenger waiting. It was Elise. I grinned and waved at her and she smiled back as she put out her hand. I pulled the letter from my pocket to hand to her and she patted my shoulder.

"Look how you've grown Sky Princess." She smiled fondly.

She was always Lexa's messenger so I got to know her for the past two years. I rolled my eyes at her name for me and sighed.

"How is she Elise…and don't lie I know when you're lying." I gave her the sternest look I could give her and she laughed lightly.

"She is fine. You two always ask me this and say almost the exact same thing. She told me to hurry back though so I must be off if I am to get back to her before the sun sets."

I looked up and sure enough the sun was going to set in a few hours.

I nodded and she patted my shoulder again before she climbed up on her horse and raced as fast as she could out of the gates of Ton DC.

I shook my head. Lexa must really want to hear from me. I couldn't help the grin that crossed my face as I felt lighter after hearing from her. I skipped back to my tent happier than I've been in the past 5 months. I couldn't wait to see her.

A few hours later sun down at Polis

I had been pacing in my room sighing for the 100th time.

"Relax Lexa…Elise should be here any second. You sure love when Elise arrives is she that important to you?" I heard the pout in the voice and couldn't help the small smirk on my face.

I stopped to look at my bed. There sitting on it was a girl named Costia. She had dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. She had her arms crossed as she pouted up at me and I couldn't help the light laugh that came out as I sat down next to her.

I kissed her lips lightly and she smiled back at me. "Relax Costia. It is not the messenger that I wish to hear from and you know that."

Costia sighed as she lay back against my bed. "Yes. Yes. It's from your family. I remember." She said softly.

I smiled down at her. This girl was something. I had met Costia half a year ago when I was walking the streets of Polis with my guards. She was running away laughing as her mom chased her because she didn't want to continue training for the day. Her mother was a healer I found out later and she was become a healer as well. She ran right into me. My guards were surprised as was I that she had slipped that easily through them. I remember the look of horror on her face when she realized who she had run into and then the swords that were pointed at her throat. She didn't seem scared though. The look of horror turned to confusion as she looked at all the guards surrounding her.

I was pulled to her instantly. I told my men to put down their weapons and then I saw her eyes. A blue I had only imagined belonged to another and I couldn't shake the familiarity. Her mom raced over terrified. She apologized profusely bowing her daughters head and I instantly missed those blue eyes. I nodded as I continued to stare at the braided hair of the girl.

When I told them it was okay they both raised their heads in shock and I stared at them stoically seeing the blue eyed girl stare at me with curiosity again.

I walked on again and my guards followed. I didn't look back. After that Anya called me to tell me that we were leaving to go travel for my training. My eyes widened. I asked her how long and she did not know and I felt a pain in my heart. That night I sat at my desk with candle light looking over the letters Clarke had sent me. I didn't know how I could write her and tell her I was leaving for an indefinite amount of time so I just replied to the letter she had just sent me recently and then left to begin getting ready to leave Polis.

The day of I stopped in my tracks carrying my satchel with one arm and my eyes widened as I saw who was coming with us. It was the girl that had run into me a month ago as well as her mother. Anya greeted me and looked at me quizzically as I continued to stare at Costia and her mother. She saw where I was looking and then smirked knowingly hitting me in the arm teasing. I glared at her as my guards began packing horses for the long journey.

Apparently Costia was being sent out along with her mother on the trip to learn of the herbs around the world for her healer training. She was a second to her mother. I had not realized until she proudly showed me her temporary marking across her shoulders later on in the trip. Through the whole trip we began to grow closer the more I saved her from wild things and the more she healed my wounds for saving her. We began a connection and my heart swelled at not feeling so alone on this trip. She had such an adventurous spirit and I could not hold her back from it. Then 3 months later Costia got the courage to kiss me and my stomach did flips as my heart grew bigger inside of my chest. I realized I loved this girl. So I asked her to be mine and I hers. She accepted and the smile she gave me was bigger than I had ever seen cross her face. I couldn't be happier.

We spent the next two months growing closer and I hadn't been this care free in a long time. Not since home before becoming the Commander and being with Clarke. My heart ached thinking about Clarke. And then suddenly I was pulled out of my musings by Costia's eyes staring at me annoyingly.

"Hello? Earth to Lexa…where you even listening?" her brows furrowed and I couldn't help but grin.

She groaned and hit my arm softly.

"You weren't were you?!"

I laughed and she put her forehead on my shoulder in exasperation. "You're impossible. Especially when you get that far off look like you're thinking of someone important…where do you even go?"

I just shrugged like I normally do and she narrowed her eyes.

"You never tell me anything." She said accusingly if not playfully like she always is.

"You know I am not allowed to. It is for your safety as well as my own." I replied.

Costia rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine. But I'm coming to Ton DC tomorrow." She said.

"I will allow it." I said.

Before Costia could reply there was a knock at the door.

"You may enter." I said as I got up off the bed to face the door.

In walked Elise. My face brightened and I looked behind me at Costia.

"I will see you tomorrow?" I said.

She nodded and smiled as she got up to give me a goodbye kiss before leaving.

"Of course." She said as she gave me a cheeky wink walking past Elise to the door. When she was gone I looked at Elise expectantly and she was smiling knowingly at me like she always does when she catches Costia in my room.

"You two have gotten close?" she said.

"It's none of your concern. Did she write?" I asked almost unable to hold in my excitement. Elise laughed as she pulled out the letter. It was sealed like it always was and I couldn't keep the smile from my face.

I go to grab it but then Elise holds it away from me. I glare at her.

"You know you're going to have to tell her." Elise said sternly.

I looked at her annoyed.

"What are you talking about." I said.

"You're going to have to tell Clarke about Costia."

I raised an eyebrow at Elise and was extremely confused.

"She will meet Costia tomorrow when we arrive in Ton DC."

Elise sighed and shook her head.

She handed me the letter and then walked towards the door as she was closing it I could have sworn she said something along the lines of, you are completely oblivious. The door slammed shut and I stood there extremely confused at her implications. I shook my head not giving it a second thought as I ripped open the letter.

My smile split from ear to ear when I saw the picture that was inside it.

I sighed happily as I traced Clarkes laughing face as well as my almost toothless smile hanging off of her. I was beaming back then. I set it with all the drawing Clarke has sent me of home and of all the things she witnessed. A year earlier I had bound the drawings so now they were in a book. And I could leisurely go through them when I was homesick. She had never sent any drawings of herself which was fine but I still missed seeing her face so this was a relief.

I picked up the letter and began to read.

Lexa!

I've missed you too! And oh wow I'm glad you're coming back. When are you coming? I can't wait to see you. I can't believe Anya took you away from me for 5 months! Not even a word from you I was worried. You jerk face!

I couldn't help but laugh at that. I could see Clarke's angry face right now with her hands on her hips. I continued reading.

Lexa I think combining the clans is a great plan but a dangerous one. I will be behind you but on that note we have much to talk about if we are going to accomplish this. I would like to help you. We were always better together then apart when coming up with our pranks when we were younger. We should expect resistance as well as bloodshed. I know you have already begun thinking of this. They won't just allow a child to walk into their camps and demand peace. We must show them who you are and what you are capable of and I know we can. Your mother should be able to help with that. Oh and your mom was proud of me today. I know unbelievable but I beat the 5 today. Can you believe it?! I beat them. Finally right?

I have gotten a lot stronger. I want to see you soon you Branwada. Promise me. Soon okay. We will speak more when you return.

Your Sky Girl

I gripped the letter staring at the last three words and couldn't help the sigh of relief that came over me. My face hardened as I thought about the long victory ahead of me. This wasn't going to be easy. By a long shot it wasn't but I believe I can do it.

I continued to stare at Clarke's handwriting before finally blowing out the candle and getting ready for bed.

I laid on my back as I stared up at the ceiling in thought. How was I going to do this? Demand peace when no one before me could. I fell asleep thinking about alliances and peace agreements but above all else, I dreamt of my Sky Girl.

Ohhhhhh shitttttttt omfg…I literally hate myself for ending it here after you found out about Costia but god damn it…I have to do this to you all XD I would like to say Clarke's reaction to Costia is going to fuck up a bunch of your hearts but it's necessary. All good things come to those who wait XD it's okay to try and make an attempt at my life but just remember if you kill me I can't finish this epic story untold by no one XD pahahahah…is it bad how excited I am for the next coming chapters? Like honestly XP you all are going to be in for a huge fucking roller coaster of feels and I just…I just can't! okay bye until tomorrow when I finish the next chapter!

Artemis Out!