Chapter 4

They rode through the gates of Polis and turned down their street and saw Raven sitting outside, head back enjoying the late autumn sunshine.

"Hey, Raven!" Clarke called. Raven looked up and grinned as she got to her feet.

"'Bout time you showed up!" she grumbled as she drew nearer. They dismounted and Raven hugged them all.

"So what's up?" Murphy asked, gesturing to the chair.

"I was waiting for you. Your mom is getting more and more impatient about Bellamy nor being able to find you. I think she may send someone else up here looking for you."

"Crap!"

"What about the rest of us? Is she looking for us too?" Raven snorted.

"Hardly! All she wants is her precious daughter back because Clarke apparently is only playing at politics and she should be back with her mother where she belongs. The rest of you? I don't think she cares, either way. If you come back, she'll treat you as before, if you stay away, she doesn't have to feed you."

"Charming!" Cooper said. "At least she won't be dragging me back there." She turned to Clarke. "It may be better if we continue to search for the lost stations during winter. If you're not here, she can't drag you back."

"She can't do that now. With the clans only recognising me as the leader and ambassador, she'll have a fight on her hands, plus the clans may do something drastic if she tries."

"Yeah, but there's going to be a shitstorm if the ambassadors and leaders think you're a laughing stock because your mother treats you like a goufa instead of an adult," Cooper said. Clarke stood still, shocked as she realised that her mother could damage relations with the clans that she'd fought so hard for.

"Shit! Alright, I'll send a messenger to Octavia and she can deliver a letter to mom."

"Better send it directly to Camp Jaha, Clarke. Your mom would accuse Octavia of being in cahoots with us and as she's now Trikru, there could be political implications."

"Sometimes I wish my mother had stayed a doctor and not stuck her nose into politics herself!" Clarke ranted. "What the hell does she know about diplomacy? I'll tell you, nothing, that's what!"

"Clarke, calm down. Once you write that letter and it's delivered, she'll either carry on as normal or keep trying to find you at the expense of relations with other places. If she keeps harassing Tondc and Polis for your whereabouts, she's going to cause trouble. It may be better for you to become Trikru. At least that way you're protected and as a woman of age, she can't force you to do anything or publicly humiliate you - unless she's got a deathwish," Cooper said.

"You know, I've been around here long enough to figure some things out," Bellamy said, walking over to them. "Each clan has one leader and one Chief of each village. Did you know that each village chooses its own leader, but that leader can be replaced if the leader of the clan doesn't agree with their choice?"

"Meaning?" asked Murphy.

"With Clarke being the recognised leader of us, she has the right to replace Abby as the Chief of Camp Jaha." Murphy smirked.

"Or she could go one better, " Cooper said. "She can ask for Skaikru to become the thirteenth clan. If that happens, Abby has to play by clan rules and that means she can't do anything to insult, humiliate or harass her leader. She could be punished with death if she did."

"That wouldn't stop my mom, Cooper. She sees a child, not a leader."

"Okay, then what has she done for the good of Skaikru? Did she get an alliance with the clans to get our people out of the mountain? Did she keep the alliance going after the mountain fell? Did she even try to save us from the mountain before you went to the clans for help? Tell me, what has she done to integrate into clan society? Because from where I stand, all I see is a woman desperate to keep power and to keep her daughter locked up because she's afraid of the ground."

"I know that, Cooper, but mom doesn't."

"Then you have to make her see that. She can be the cause of our destruction if she doesn't pull back from the brink of stupidity. Why is she like this?"

"I have no idea. I think maybe she thought about what she did when she told Jaha about what dad intended to do. She didn't think through the consequences and thought if she told him, he'd talk dad out of it and that would be the end of it. She didn't expect him to betray her by floating dad and putting me in prison just because I knew about it. I think her confidence in her own abilities to control situations was misplaced and she saw Jaha for how he really was. She felt betrayed by that. Her own actions got her husband killed and her daughter imprisoned. She should have learned from that, but she hasn't. She seems more determined to keep me close because I'm all she has left of dad. I don't blame her for wanting me close, but it's just the way she's going about it."

"You have to get through to her, Clarke, but you can't go there or she'll never let you out again. Leader and ambassador will be held prisoner by a delusional woman and the clans will destroy Skaikru if that happens. You mother is naive in the ways of the ground and she's stupid enough to ignore the warning signs because she thinks she knows better. You have to make her back off and if you have to, replace her with someone who IS willing to work with the clans and keep our people alive during this coming winter."

"God, this is a mess!" Clarke said, running her hand through her hair.

"Maybe you should go inform the Commander of what we found and tell her what your mother's doing. If you want us to be the 13th clan, then you have my backing. If you want to join the Trikru, then I do too." Clarke stared at her.

"I'll do that. Can you take the horses back to the stables?"

"Sure, no problem," Cooper said. Clarke nodded, handed her pack over to Murphy and went off to the tower.

"She needs a bodyguard until this is over," Cooper said, looking after Clarke.

"MILLER!" yelled Bellamy. Miller came running.

"What's up?"

"Clarke's gone to see the Commander. Her mother's causing trouble again. Clarke needs a bodyguard. Go!" Miller nodded and took off after Clarke.

"I'll take the horses back, Murphy, you take our stuff inside and when I come back, we need to talk about everything," Cooper said. Everyone nodded and they went about their business.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

They all gathered in the conference room - minus Clarke and Miller - and Bellamy started them off.

"We went to Mecha and told Raven and Monty," he said, gesturing to the two of them, "and they decided to come here with everything they found. We went to Arkadia and reported that Clarke wasn't in Polis but she'd been spotted north of Mount Weather. We never said why, just that she was in that area and that she moved around a lot. We persuaded her to let us go and look for her and take extra people, hence Miller and Justin." He again pointed to Justin. Cooper nodded. "Abby wanted us to take some of the guards, but we persuaded her that she'd respond more to us than a guard and that we had more chance of persuading her to return than with guards. She reluctantly agreed. We came back via Mecha and picked up Raven and Monty and then we all came here."

"Good. Justin, do you know what we are trying to do here?"

"Yeah, Bellamy filled me in. I'm originally from Orchid station. Have you found them yet?"

"No. We've found Flint, Tesla and Factory stations. Factory is actually only about 15 klicks from Camp Jaha but we've persuaded them to stay within a five klick area of where they are. We had to use the argument of taking food from children if they strayed outside the five kilometre zone."

"Adults, I bet!" Sterling said.

"Yeah, but we left good people in charge."

"Who?" asked Bellamy.

"Ariel?" Cooper said, looking at him.

"Yeah, I know her. She was a no-nonsense kind of woman. She's probably quite elderly now," he said.

"Not that old, Bellamy, when we got there, she had gone off hunting with several others. Murphy went and found them and she'd killed a panther with a handgun!"

"Way to go, Ariel!" Bellamy said, awed that the elderly woman had taken to the ground so quickly. "So she's in charge, that's good."

"Have Harper and Monroe taken some of the clothing to Flint?"

"Yeah, they have. They set off the day after we got here, which was two days ago. We found a small blow up rubber dinghy and they'll use that to get the goods across the rivers."

"So they'll be gone for at least a week. Okay, we can work with that." Cooper was gnawing on her lip thinking things through.

"Raven, do you have refined projections for the rest of the stations?"

"We do, but again, it's only a rough estimate of where they are."

"Which is the furthest away?"

"I'm afraid to say that it looks like Farm and Hydro Stations may have landed in Azgeda territory."

"What!" Cooper exclaimed.

"Sorry, but for some reason, they seem to have drifted the furthest north. We think Arrow drifted further south, down into Broadleaf territory."

"And the others?"

"Okay, here's the list of what we think happened," Raven said, handing over a sheet of paper. Cooper took it and started reading aloud.

"Flint station, east of Tondc, Tesla station, northwest of Polis, Factory Station, south of Camp Jaha. All those are correct. So I'm going to assume that the others are fairly close to where you've said they are." Cooper looked up at Raven who nodded. Cooper kept reading.

"Skybox, northeast of Polis, Farm station, north, possibly in Azgeda territory, Orchid, south west of Tondc, possibly in Broadleaf territory. Arrow Station, Definitely way down in Broadleaf territory, possibly Florida. Did you have to put 'way down'?"

"What? It is!" Cooper kept reading.

"Hydro north, possibly Azgeda or Podakru territory. Granary Station, south west of Tondc but north of Orchid, still in Trikru I think. Raven stop putting in your vague comments, please? Freight station possibly in Plains Rider territory, definitely far to the west." Murphy and Sterling laughed at the descriptions.

"Raven, we need to redo these locations using old maps, then we can take them to the Commander and find out where they are and in whose territory."

"I know, I just wanted to give you a quick overview."

"Okay. If you and Monty can find a table to work from and refine just where you think they may be. Name the nearest town you think they may be at or area if you're not sure." Both of them nodded. "Good, has anyone done inventory on what we have?"

"Harper was looking into that, but had to go take some stuff to Flint," Bellamy said.

"Okay, so that needs to be done. With Miller being Clarke's guard for now, we need another to trade off watches. Who else can we use?"

"Right now, probably you. Sterling doesn't know enough about it, Murphy may not want to and I don't think I'm the best person to be around the Commander right now."

"What about Justin?"

"NO! I don't want to be a fighter or warrior, Cooper. I had enough of that during the fighting at the dropship and in the mountain!"

"Okay, then can you do the inventory?"

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll use some of the writing pads and make a list of everything we have and then sort it all out onto the shelves in sections."

"That's fine," Cooper said. "Okay, that leaves Bellamy, Murphy, Sterling, me and Clarke. We need someone else to use as a guard. Are any more of our people coming here?"

"Tim and Brad said they'd try to sneak away," Bellamy said, "but they weren't optimistic about it. Abby really is watching the remaining hundred like a hawk."

"Pity we can't use Octavia for this," Cooper said.

"She's Trikru now, she can't unless ordered to by the Commander or Indra."

"I know, it was just wishful thinking. Okay, I'll be her other bodyguard until we can find someone else or me and Clarke go off exploring again. Murphy, Sterling, want to go see if you can find the skybox? There may still be prisoners in it. If they are kids, bring them here to Polis, Clarke can pardon them and we can put them to work for us."

"What if it's adults?"

"Then I have no idea what to do with them. They were put into the skybox for a reason."

"Yeah, but that could be Jaha's paranoia," Sterling said.

"Doubt it, he'd just float them," Cooper replied.

"So if there is anyone there, it'll probably be kids?"

"Most likely. They came down two months after we did so I don't know how many kids got put in there in that short amount of time," Cooper admitted.

"We'll find out, Sterling said, looking at Murphy. Murphy nodded.

"Alright, when Clarke gets back, we can get her permission and then you can go tomorrow if we get it."

"And if we don't?"

"That's up to Clarke, but I think with Bellamy being in overall charge around here until Clarke comes back, Raven and Monty making those maps for us, Justin in charge of inventory and Miller being Clarke's guard, we still have a presence here. We still need to find places we can get inventory from. We have no idea how many people survived. So far we've found around 800 people in three stations. That's nearly a third of them. We can't assume everyone will survive or that all the stations survived the fall intact."

"So what do we do?

"We go out and find as many of them as we can. We take names of those we know are dead and we hope that we can find a place for them all to live in peace - as long as the adult Arkers behave."

"That's some undertaking, Cooper."

"I know but Clarke and I started this to atone for what we did or didn't do. I didn't fight hard enough and Fox and Jessica were taken and killed for their bone marrow. Three boys died too. I know I couldn't have done much without me being taken as well, but I think this is survivor guilt kicking in. I need to save the others to atone for the ones I couldn't save." Everyone was quiet as they digested her statement.

"And Clarke?"

"I feel guilty for the lives I took in defending our people and in getting them out of the mountain," Clarke said, having come in at the end of Cooper's speech.

"I feel like that too," Bellamy said. "I keep thinking I could have done more, or should have done it differently and then we wouldn't have had to kill all those people." Everyone was quiet as they contemplated their own actions. Clarke shook it off first.

"So, what's happening now?"

"Raven's given us a sort of updated list, she and Monty are going to re-write it properly before we take it to the Commander. Harper and Monroe have taken some stuff to Flint. If you agree, Sterling and Murphy have agreed to go find the Skybox. According to Raven, it's northeast of Polis. That should be not too far from here, maybe twenty miles or so?" Clarke nodded and turned to Murphy and Sterling.

"Do you want to ride or walk there?"

"Walk!" they both said at the same time." Clarke smiled as she nodded.

"Get yourselves some warm clothing and survival packs. Make sure you take a couple of firestarters, just in case and hunt along the way near there. If they are kids, bring them here after you determine they won't do anything stupid. Don't forget, these are not our people even if they are prisoners. They may not know that there are people on the ground."

"Got it," Murphy said.

"Go get ready and then tell one of us when you set off. It'll take you a day to get there at least. I'll give you a week to come back here." They both nodded and went to prepare. Clarke turned to the others. What else?"

"Until we get some more people here, I'll be your other guard."

"I don't really need a guard, Cooper," Clarke replied.

"Yes, you do, HEDA," Cooper replied. "Around here, heda's are all accompanied by at least one guard at all times. It's both a protocol and a status thing. If you don't have at least one, they'll think you are not really the leader of our people."

"I'm not really. Mom is. I'm the leader of us."

"No, as far as the clans are concerned, YOU, Clarke Griffin, are Skai heda, leader of the Skaikru."

"Why?"

"Because it was you who got the peace treaty, it was you who fought your own mother to get us out of the mountain and it was you who helped them plan it all. Bellamy came into the mountain to help us, but it was your plan and your leadership they saw, not your mother's, not Kane's and not anyone else's - YOURS!" The others nodded when Clarke looked at them.

"Okay, then you can be my other guard, but let's get one thing straight, okay? You are not just guards, but my friends as well and you are more than guards, you help me plan things too."

"Fine by me," Cooper said.

"Alright, what else?" Clarke asked, hoping they hadn't done too much planning.

"Justin is going to do inventory and sort stuff out. I have no idea what we have or how much of it we have. We need to trade for a table for Raven and Monty to use for now and maybe a desk for Justin and his inventory lists."

"Anything else?"

"Nope, that's as far as we got before you came back. You need to read through this list of Raven's and then we can decide what to do next - though her descriptions are a little vague." Bellamy and Justin laughed.

Clarke held out her hand and she read the list.

"Azgeda? For maybe two of them?"

"Yeah, I think Farm is definitely in there somewhere, but the other - Hydro - may still be in Trikru lands - or Podakru lands, not sure of the clan lands around there," Raven replied.

"We definitely need to talk to the Commander about that one," Clarke said. "Raven, write this out again please."

"Yeah, Cooper already told us to and to mark the nearest town or area we think they may be at."

"Good. Cooper, Bellamy, go to the market and find a table we can buy. Figure out what we can trade for it." They nodded and left as Clarke went over what else was said in the meeting.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

"You ever traded in the market, Bellamy?"

"No."

"You're in for a treat! We need to haggle with them over prices. We'll use a couple of knives and a few sets of hats and gloves. We'll check with the carpenter's stall first and then the nomads' stalls. They seem to pick up the occasional piece of old world stuff and bring it here to barter. Maybe we can buy anything they can't sell if we can find a use for it." Bellamy nodded but he had no clue how to trade. They picked up a pack and stuffed it with some of the smaller clothing articles and the knives.

In the market, Bellamy was looking everywhere, at all the things around him. It wasn't the goods on offer, it was the liveliness of the place, the banter and the laughter of good-natured traders. He saw people laughing, haggling, gossiping and he watched the children playing, running around without a care in the world. He saw life and not the warriors he'd only seen since they landed. He saw people doing ordinary jobs and not fighters. He saw a city that was just like the Ark in many respects, civilians, not warriors and it made him think about all those he had encountered. He never once stopped to think about the warriors as people, as fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. He never thought of those they left behind, all he saw when they first came down was mindless, bloodthirsty killers. This was a reality check, this was real life, this was the way it was meant to be and he hoped that one day, he, too, could have this. Peace and a quieter, more gentle life.

He followed Cooper who seemed to know her way around the market as she took him down alleyways and stores, trader stalls and warehouses, looking for the things they needed.

They found the nomads stalls at the end of the market, nearest the main gate. The Nomads liked to have a quick exit in case anything happened. Most of them had been outcast for deformity of some kind or another. Cooper went up to one stall and asked about wagons or large carts and was directed to the next stall to talk to Tregar about such things.

When they got to his stall, he looked at them suspiciously.

"What do you want? He asked in Gonasleng.

"We are looking for a wagon to buy," Cooper said.

"What do you want a wagon for?" His tone bordered on surprise.

"To move things with," Cooper replied as if it was obvious. Tregar grunted and asked what kind they wanted. Cooper looked around at the various wagons moving in and out of the gate.

"One like that," she said, pointing to a wagon that looked almost like the old wagons she saw in westerns on the Ark. They'd have to modify it to provide a cover, but she hoped that her idea would work.

"They are common, are difficult to make, but in great demand so they are expensive," he told her.

"If they are common, they are easier to make and therefore not so expensive," she countered.

"Do you need anything else? Maybe a different kind of wagon," he said, trying to persuade her to buy an expensive one.

"No, one of those will do," she replied. By her tone he knew she wouldn't budge on her choice.

"When do you want it?"

"As soon as possible, please," she replied, smiling at him. "How much?" His eyes narrowed at the opportunity to pad his own pockets.

"Six of your rifles," he said.

"Nope, not going to happen. The Commander has issued orders not to sell our weapons. Anyone caught with them who are not Skaikru and are not in their own compounds are subject to her punishments." Cooper folded her arms across her chest to reinforce the message.

"What have you got?"

"What do you need?" she countered.

"We have need of ways to transport water across the desert. We have large metal crates which are heavy even before we add the water and we cannot move far or fast with it." Cooper thought.

"If we find you some water carriers, how many do you want?"

"Enough to hold twenty gallons of water. We can move that around safely."

"Alright, it'll take us some time to hunt them out - if we can find them at all. How long until we can look at the wagon?"

"We will be back here next week. We usually only bring one wagon, but we can bring two and sell you one of them. They are both the same."

"Good, that gives us time." They shook on the deal and Cooper led Bellamy back towards the warehouse, stopping at another stall she knew had tables. She bartered both knives and a set of hat, gloves and scarf for one. Bellamy and Cooper carried the table between them. On the way Bellamy had some questions.

"Is it always like that?"

"Bartering, you mean?" she asked for clarification.

"Yeah, It's like a dance, backwards and forwards, sidestepping and pursuing," he said. Cooper hadn't thought of it like that, but she nodded at the correlation.

"I kind of like it," she replied.

"I need to learn this, don't I?"

"Yep, and try not to lose your temper with them. They want the best price possible for their goods and you want the lowest price possible for buying them. It's give and take. You give a low price, one you know is too low, they give a high price, one they know is too high and then you haggle until a reasonable price is reached. Some of them refuse to lower their prices, don't buy off them. The Commander is trying to rout them all out who try to gouge the customers. Some of them sell unusable or easily broken goods for a very high price and don't care what happens once they have your goods. It helps to have a vague idea of the price of things so you don't pay too much or insult a trader for their wares."

"How do you know what that is?"

"I was told by one of the Trikru guards that traders like to sell their goods for twice as much as they paid for it, so whatever price they first suggest, half is probably what it was sold to them for. Aim for three quarters, but start at just below half. They'll soon lower their top price if they really want to sell their goods."

"It's going to take some time to get the hang of it," Bellamy said.

"Yes, but we need to do this for anything we sell as well. Once we get established and have things to sell, we will. If we can establish a trade with the other clans for anything we or Camp Jaha can produce, we can fit in better by showing them we are adapting to their ways instead of expecting them to fit with ours." Bellamy stopped and looked at her.

"It's what we did, isn't it? We - I - expected the grounders to do things our way because that's the way we are taught was the right way."

"Yeah, it's also how Camp Jaha does things too. With Abby it's either her way or fuck off!"

"She's not that bad," he demurred.

"Really? Because I heard what happened when Finn killed those villagers. All of you thought he shouldn't be punished. Abby pardoned him on the grounds that you were at war. What do you think she'd have done if one grounder went into Camp Jaha and killed 18 people and then left like it was nothing, like their lives didn't matter? Would she just let him go because he wasn't part of her clan, and therefore the punishment would be whatever his own clan decided? Or would she try to take matters into her own hands and want that grounder dead? What would you have done in that situation?"

Bellamy thought it all out and realised just how supid they'd been. Of course they wanted retribution and of course they wanted him dead. Why didn't they see it before? Why didn't they question how they would have responded if it had been the other way around? Bellamy slowly nodded as he acknowledged the huge amount of guilt that was on his own shoulders about it all. Cooper's were clean, she was in the mountain, but those outside - Raven included - had a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. He remembered when Raven was pissed that Clarke had killed Finn and had said that murderers were floated and that's what should have happened to Clarke. He was amazed at the level of double standards Raven applied to that situation. Clarke killed one person to save the rest of them and Raven wanted her killed because of it, but refused to think about Finn being killed for killing 18 grounders. He wondered if Raven was biased against them.

"I get what you're saying and you're right. We fucked up. Finn was responsible for his actions and we protected him because he was one of us and they weren't. We were wrong. Raven was wrong, but I doubt you'll ever get her to admit that. She loved him and he dated Clarke. He betrayed her and she still protected him."

"Love is blind, Bellamy, remember that when dealing with a loved one." He nodded and they moved through the city back to the warehouse.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

When they got back, they placed the table in the conference room and went to the maps Raven had brought and looked for places that would have old world things like military camps and malls. After checking them, they found a place with a few stores roughly ten miles northwest of Polis. They were debating when to go and Clarke told them to wait a couple of days until Raven had that map redone and they'd gone to see the Commander about it. They agreed, but Bellamy wanted to go this time so he got a pack ready. He made sure that a tent and sleeping bag was ready as well as a sleeping bag for Cooper.

The next day, Clarke and Cooper went back to see the Commander to refine the maps some more and figure out who's territory the stations landed in.

"Commander," they both said as they bowed to her in her throne room. When they stood back up, she nodded to them.

"What can I do for you today?" the Commander asked.

"Raven's refined the trajectories of the other stations and has new areas to check. The first three we found are in the areas she suggested so we are hoping most of the others are where she thinks they are, though we do have concerns about two of them."

"Why?" Clarke looked at Cooper before she replied.

"They may be in Azgeda territory," she admitted. The Commander sat up straighter on her throne - if that was possible - and looked at them.

"Show me!" she commanded. Clarke pulled out the map and Cooper held one end while Clarke held the other. The Commander got up and went over to them to see the map. She could see several areas she knew and markings for twelve others she didn't.

"These are the stations, Commander," Clarke said, pointing to the twelve unidentified marks on the map. "These three we've already found, these two are mecha and alpha, but the others are still unaccounted for. Farm and Hydro are way to the north. From what we've learned, Farm is probably inside Azgeda territory, only just though, and Hydro is further north and further west as well. We're not sure if this is Azgeda or Podakru lands." Lexa studied the map before she called for a guard to fetch her map case.

When it arrived, Lexa pulled out several maps until she found the one she was looking for.

"This is Podakru lands, also known as the lake people. This station is deep into their territory, it is almost into Azgeda. Podakru may attack, but in recent times, they have allied themselves with us rather than Queen Nia, that may keep your people alive. This map shows Podakru lands and there are no settlements in that area. The winters are brutal with very deep snow and temperatures below freezing."

"How far is it, Commander, " Cooper asked.

"Over 600 miles." Both girls were shocked.

"We'd be travelling there through the winter just to reach them," Cooper said.

"I'll send scouts out with messages from you to the people there," the Commander said.

"You'd better tell them to be careful, Commander. Some of the Arkers may shoot first - especially if they've had hostile intentions towards them before. They won't be able to tell the difference between Podakru and Azgeda. They'll see people in furs and with swords and think they are all the same," Cooper said and Clarke nodded in agreement.

"She's right, Lexa. Even with messages from us, they may still be suspicious and not inclined to do anything they tell them."

"So what do you want to do?" the Commander asked.

"Is anyone here from Hydro?" asked Cooper.

"No, but there's two from Hydro still alive in Camp Jaha. We just have to find a way of getting them out."

"How?" Cooper asked.

"Prisoner exchange?" Clarke said, facetiously.

"Not you and none of us!" Cooper said. "We're relatively free now and we all know we won't be if we go back there. How about sending them some things we 'found' around the area and we ask for those two in exchange?"

"They'll see that as blackmail," Clarke replied.

"Not really, it's another form of trade. We are not buying those kids, we are just buying their freedom."

"The others will want to come as well and mom won't let them." Cooper pondered on the dilemma.

"What if we went to one of the found stations and asked if anyone wanted to move to Camp Jaha. If we had 44 people saying yes, then that eases the burden on that station and we can exchange our people for those who wish to live with the others."

"Doubt that would work," Clarke said, "you know my mother, always suspicious and wants to keep as many people as she can."

"Yeah, but if she can't feed them over winter, she's gonna be out of the Chancellorship pretty quickly. If she wants to keep control, she'll have to compromise on something." Clarke shook her head.

"She wouldn't go for it, Cooper. My mom is so far into denial about the ground, I bet she's convincing herself that life goes on as usual."

"Yeah, but that food in the Ark and that one container of water won't last all winter. Something's gonna give somewhere. We need to barter for the lives of those kids and I think the best way to do that is with food and warm clothing, but mostly food."

"Cooper has a good point, Clarke. We barter people for items all the time. We do not condone slavery, in fact, anytime we see it, we kill those slavers and free their slaves. We bargain for someone's time as a carpenter or blacksmith or tanner or whatever goods we want made, we barter for it. This is no different."

"So we say we will trade the remaining hundred - if they want to come - for a wagon full of food and clothing?" Clarke asked.

"It's the best way," Cooper said. "I know your mother won't like it and try to keep her people and the food and clothing, but I think if the meeting is open and public, we can persuade the others of the good deal. Don't forget, down here, those kids are adults in their own right with self-determination the key factor. It's down to them if they want to join us."

"Yeah, mom still won't see that!"

"She won't have much of a choice, Clarke. We ask and if she doesn't agree, we demand an open public meeting to discuss trading our goods for our people."

"How many do you think we'd get to come with us?"

"Maybe half. Some of them still have family there and would rather stay with them."

"What if the families want to come as well?"

"We can't put up everyone, Clarke. Even if we get all 44 of our people, we'll struggle to find places for them to live."

"There are houses near you that have been abandoned for decades, I have no problem with you living in say five of them," said Lexa.

"Depending on the size, I'd say yes. If we can find bunk beds, we could put more in them. We'd need to start repairing them and figuring out how many they can hold first," Cooper said.

"Then let us return to your warehouse and embassy and find places for your people," the Commander said.

"Sha, Heda," Clarke said. Cooper bowed to the Commander and followed the couple out of the door.