Chapter 18

Taylor had not expected the Trikru warriors to be in that much uproar because of what Clarke had done. Of course, in the show the warriors had also been angry, but it had not really shown how the warriors reacted.

It was painfully obvious that the warriors did not feel appeased in their claim for justice in the slightest with the simple and quick way Finn had been killed now, not even at the hands of one of them. Even though Lexa had already called them to order, the whispers going through the crowd were aggressive.

Taylor shortly looked at Clarke and she honestly felt pity for the younger woman. She was obviously already in a state of shock and the blonde young woman was staring at the bloodied knife which glistened within her hands with wide blue eyes. She seemed blind to the uproar she had caused though and she did not show the slightest reaction when one particularly angry soldier suddenly approached the small group of them with a drawn dagger and an angry snarl.

Suddenly, Anya put herself in front of Taylor again, intent on protecting the blonde doctor. She honestly had not expected that Clarke would do something so stupid. She just had made everything so much more different for Lexa. There had already been too much bad blood between both of their people and Clarke had efficiently just trampled their culture without any kind of respect. She barely could have done worse if she had planned to insult Trikru. Interfering with a case of well-deserved execution like this was a crime punishable by death.

She just wished that Taylor would have told them about this happening before. The blonde doctor had obviously known this would happen. She hoped that Taylor had a reason for not having told them this would happen though. Could this event somehow be essential for the future the blonde knew about?

Lexa gave a quick nod to Gustus, who brought the attacking warrior down quickly. The commander turned to her general next "Bring Yssa and Clarke into my tent" she ordered briskly as her expression morphed from slightly shocked to hard as stone in the blink of an eye. She knew that she needed to remain seen for a while and control the rage with which her warriors were reacting right now.

Anya put a hand behind the doctor's back while she held a dagger in her free hand. She motioned towards Clarke with it. The blonde Skykru leader caught her eye for a moment as if she was breaking out of a trance. She straightened herself slightly and followed the general with a brave face.

Taylor tried to estimate Anya's mood. It was obvious that the general was tense. She was not sure though if she was imagining the slight hint of disappointment within her brown eyes. A shiver ran threw her frame as the old guilt resurfaced for a moment.

Indeed, Anya noticed how Taylor suddenly began to shive and she was alarmed by the far-away look which was within the doctor's grey eyes right now. She recognized this though. Some of her own warriors had returned from a battle in such a state, not able to forget the horrible things they had seen or done.

She retained her hand on the blonde woman's back as a silent reassurance. She did know yet how Taylor reacted to being pulled out of such a haze forcefully and there was no necessity to do it now as they would be safe from prying eyes in the commander's tent.

Anya narrowed her eyes down at Clarke once they had stepped inside of the commander's tent. A pair of guards had followed them silently on Lexa's orders and were now standing guard right at the entrance. It was highly unlikely that any of their warriors would be foolish enough to try and seek out revenge on Clarke at this moment, so, Anya did not have to worry about protecting them now.

Although she was highly annoyed with the blonde Skykru leader, Anya was not blind to the impact the action had on Clarke right now. She fetched a bowl of water and a rag for her, placing it on the table silently, turning back to Taylor.

The blonde doctor was once again too pale for her liking and she still seemed caught up in her own thoughts. While Clarke was inside in the tent with them, she could also not question her why she had not just warned them about what Clarke would do. She had taken a damp rag herself, intent on cleaning away the dried blood from Taylor's face.

Anya crouched down slightly in front of Taylor and gently placed the wet piece of cloth against the blonde woman's temple causing her to startle visibly.

"Hey, you are safe here" Anya assured her in a kind tone while looking at her with understanding brown eyes. She gently patted at the doctor's wound, slowly removing the blood which was starting to form an ugly crust against her fair skin.

Taylor let the general help her mutely while she was looking up at her in mute apology. She had failed twice today. She had failed to hold up Jaha, basically letting him escape and now she had also failed to prevent Clarke from mercy-killing Finn.

In the meantime, Clarke was on the verge of a breakdown. She was scrubbing frantically at Finn's blood drying on the skin of her fingers while tears pooled in her blue eyes. Once she let out the first audible sob, Anya sighed under her breath.

"Are you okay?" she hushed to Taylor in concern and when the doctor nodded only a split moment later the general gave her hands a slight squeeze before she turned to Clarke.

"Do you have the slightest idea of what you have just done?" Anya leaned against the table just next to Taylor, keeping physical contact with the doctor by placing a hand on one of her shoulders.

Clarke sobbed again as the first tears fell from her eyes, she was looking up from her fingers towards Anya now though. Her expression turned from desperate to angry in the blink of an eye and her tone was angry when she accused Anya "You were supposed to help me. You promised to speak to your commander for me. If you had done so, I would not have been forced to do this just now!"

Anya crossed her arms in front of her chest with a raised brow, not impressed at all by Clarke's outbreak. The girl – as she refused to recognize her as a woman if she insisted on acting like this – was not in the right here and she would make her see that.

"Oh, believe me, I have spoken to the commander about what happens in the Mountain" Anya answered in a calm tone not acting on the blonde's provocation "But you obviously have no idea into what impossible position you have put Lexa now. You have completely disregarded our traditions and now you wish our warriors to work with your people."

"Traditions?!" Clarke echoed in a screechy tone as her hands balled to angry fists "Lincoln told us what your people would have done to Finn. You call this a tradition?!"

Anya's brown eyes blazed angrily at the blonde girl, staring her down strongly "Yes, the boy has killed 18 innocent villagers. We have been there, Clarke, we saw him shoot them without any provocation. How would your people have dealt with such a transgression?"

"The Ark's carta would have condemned Finn to death as well" Taylor spoke up, trying to interfere with the conversation. She wanted Clarke to recognize as well what she had done. She wanted to protect Lexa and she knew that Clarke's transgression only enhanced distrust from Trikru to Skykru.

Clarke looked taken aback and her blue eyes narrowed down at Taylor now "How do you know this?" she demanded to know.

"Am I wrong?" Taylor questioned ignoring Clarke's previous words.

The blonde Skykru leader shook her head in the negative "But how do you know this?" she repeated her demand.

"I know many thing" Taylor answered vaguely, ignoring the general's alarmed gaze "Like Lexa already told you I am a blessing sent to help her, gifted with certain knowledge".

Clarke's brows furrowed as she mulled Taylor's words over. It was obvious that the answer was not enough to her.

"So, your people would have executed the assassin as well" Anya said before Clarke could come up with another question.

"Yes" the blonde girl agreed in a clearly reluctant tone before a defiant glint returned to her blue eyes "But we would have executed him with a single shot and not tortured him to death. It would have been a quick painless death and not what your people would have done!"

The tent flaps were opened before Anya could return something and Abby and Kane rushed inside.

The blonde Skykru doctor immediately went over to hug her daughter. Both, Kane and Abby, were clearly worried by what had happened and what the consequences now may be.

"Clarke, I am here, it is okay" Abby tried to comfort her daughter in a soothing tone.

It only made Clarke cry again "I had to do it, mum, I really had to...".

"I know, baby" Abby answered, rubbing over Clarke's back.

"You really need to learn Trigedasleng" Anya turned her back on Clarke and her mother as her attention returned to Taylor.

The blonde doctor slightly snorted under her breath, but nodded in agreement. She had never been that good with languages though. She of course recognized that it would come in handy in front of Skykru who did not know the language either.

"Do you want to lie down?" Anya offered questioningly as she gazed down in concern to Taylor. She did not like that Taylor had been in a physical fight with Thelonious Jaha and she hoped that the doctor had not done anything to her healing wound.

Taylor shook her head though "I am fine" she assured the general. She was touched by the concern though and slightly reached towards Anya's hand resting on the table in front of her and placed her own on top of it with the hint of a smile.

Lexa entered the tent only a short moment later closely followed by Gustus and Indra.

It was obvious immediately that Indra's anger towards Skykru had enhanced immensely by what Clarke had done. The dark-skinned warrior was glaring daggers at her as she took her position next to the throne.

Lexa had sat down on her throne and Gustus had moved to her right side "Blood has answered blood. Some on my side say that it is not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands" the commander said with a carefully blank face. Taylor could imagine that Indra would have already made her opinion on the matter clear to the commander right outside.

"But they do not know that your suffering will be worse" Lexa said looking deeply into the blonde's blue eyes with a slight hint of compassion in her green ones "What you did right now will haunt you until the end of your days."

Clarke swallowed harshly, biting her lips and reverted her eyes to the floor of the tent obviously unable to meet the commander's piercing gaze any longer. Taylor was not sure if the blonde actually had understood the graveness of what she had done. She knew from the show that the harshness of the grounders only really sunk in to Skykru after having seen Raven's and Gustus' punishment in TonDC. She had hoped to be able to prevent this from happening as she thought that Raven really suffered much already. Taylor made a mental note to indeed discuss this matter with Lexa and Anya as soon as possible.

"Still there will be restitution. The body will be given to the people of TonDC. Murder and murdered joined by fire. Only then can we have peace" Lexa finished her demands in a calm tone.

Abby and Clarke both seemed speechless for a moment, so Kane spoke up "No, no. We have done enough. The boy should be buried by his own people" the man said with conviction in his voice.

"Enough" Indra interjected with a taunting voice "We were owed the pain of eighteen deaths; we were owed our righteous kill. My village deserves justice."

"You do not want justice" Abby spoke up now clearly agitated "All you want is vengeance."

"You have not seen my vengeance" Indra seethed and stepped closer to Abby, her grip on her sword becoming tighter as the tension rose in the tent.

While the conversation went on Taylor's eyes travelled over to Gustus. She was trying to estimate if the burly man was already planning his move to frame poisoning the commander on Raven to destroy the possibility of a cease fire between the coalition. She could only imagine how much having to execute Gustus had hurt the commander personally. Could she somehow prevent this from happening? Taylor had not had much interaction with Gustus yet, so, she knew that going to the man and confronting him directly made little sense. Would Lexa already punish him just for planning his treachery? In the end, Gustus had after all only tried to protect his leader. Taylor's brows furrowed in internal debate. What good did all her knowledge do to Lexa and Anya if she was too afraid of changing the wrong things?

"We'll do it" Clarke suddenly said in an empty voice "But when it is over, we talk about how to get our people out of Mount Weather, all of our people."

"We want the same thing, Clarke" Lexa said evenly, only looked at the blonde.

"Good" Clarke answered "When do we leave?" she asked, wanting things to move along as quickly as possible.

"Now" came the short answer from the commander, as the woman stood up from her throne again "Chose your attendants".