Disclaimer: I do not own The 100 or any of its characters.
Author's note: at the end.
WAR ON ICE
A curiosity.
It was easy being with Clarke. Lexa didn't even have to speak. She and Clarke sat side-by-side in Lexa's tent, Clarke reading a book left from the old world and Lexa meditating. Well, Lexa was trying to meditate, but with Clarke's close proximity, that was harder than usual to do.
"I can't believe these artifacts survived all these years," Clarke remarked after a few minutes. Lexa opened an eye and gazed at her. She was reading a book about something called "brie cheese," which Lexa had never eaten but which seemed to have been a luxury item in older times.
"They're not much use, if no one here can actually act from them."
"Does something have to be acted upon for it to be useful?" Clarke's tone was curious, not challenging. Lexa noticed that she did this a lot: wonder aloud in her soft, insightful way. Sometimes she'd issue a direct challenge, of course (like when she'd demanded Lexa let Finn go to show her people how merciful of leader she could be), but other times she was gentle.
"I'd say so." Lexa uncrossed her legs and shifted her knees up to her chest, focusing fully on Clarke now. "In our ways, an action must always have an intent. Empty actions take up precious energy."
"Haven't you ever done something just for the sake of doing it?" Clarke shifted to face Lexa, too.
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Sing because you're happy?"
"We sing during rituals and festivals."
Clarke's eyes widened. "And that's it?"
Lexa returned the stare. "Yes. On which occasions do you sing, Clarke?"
And then Clarke was singing-her raspy voice stringing together soft, sweet melodies of the sky and the stars. A nursery rhyme from on the Ark. And then she was singing-almost speaking, actually-quite rapidly, her words chiming together in rhyme and rhythm. And then her tone softened again and she was crooning a low melody.
"What is this?" Lexa almost whispered, her eyes locked with Clarke's.
"It's a love song." Clarke paused her strum to give Lexa another look of awe. "You really don't ever sing like this, do you?"
"No." Lexa broke the contact and looked at the other end of the room, thinking about the words that'd tumbled smoothly from Clarke's mouth about lovers and touch and dreams.
What would a song about Clarke sound like, if Lexa sang one about her?
o - o - o - o - o - o
Chapter 5
It was bright when Costia stepped out of the prison cell. She had to shield her eyes as she emerged, having spent twelve full days in captivity for bumping into an Azgeda council member in the street when he was having a particularly merciless morning.
It was chilly outside. Costa was wearing nothing but a thin shawl over her shoulders. She was naked from the neck down, as was Nia's way of making even the release from prison ache and linger. People scoffed as Costia walked by, for her walk proved she had done something worthy of her imprisonment and people of the Ice Nation were quick to sneer and ridicule. She headed east toward the small hut on the side of the village that she shared with a few other girls.
When Costia entered her homestead, her housemates flocked over to her, covering her with a threadbare blanket and leading her over to one of the beds. "Oh, Costia," one of them murmured, moving to sit down next to her and smooth down her hair as another brought her over a large cup of water. "What did they do to you? The usual?"
Torture was commonplace in Azgeda. Nobody was immune, except for maybe the Queen herself. People were punished with torture for lots of things. There were the major things, like deserting during battle, fraternizing with the enemy, and spying on the Ice Nation. But there also smaller things, too: if they missed a shot while hunting, over-cooked a rabbit for the Queen's dinner, crafted a sword too dull for the army. The list goes on and on and depends on the particular mood of the people in charge. Someone in the camp tried making a list once, but was caught and then tortured himself.
Costia was exceptionally unlucky in this department because the Queen had taken a special interest in her. At first she was interested for the secrets she thought Costia could share about Lexa, but when she learned the girl knew nothing important, Costia was discarded as a useless hostage. Most people would die in that situation, which Nia made Lexa believe happened. But for whatever reason, Nia chose to keep Costia around, perhaps hoping she'd one day tell her something useful. Most of the time Costia just fumbled around town or in Nia's court doing whatever task had to be done, and sometimes doing it poorly enough to be locked in the prison caves.
But Costia was still able to make a life for herself. Her housemates continued fussing over her, cleaning her wounded body and fluffing up her bed. They were kind. They were captured from other clans and kept mostly because of their youth and child-rearing age. They'd given birth to a couple babies between the three of them, and it was a fate Costia never hoped to endure. Yet nevertheless they were kind, bonded together by the circumstances of their clans and the goodness still left in their hearts.
This wasn't much of a life, but it was better than death. And for that Costia was grateful, as she's come to truly value keeping her life.
o - o - o - o - o - o
The Ark guards barged into the room with their guns before Lexa could even get up from her bed. "We have to go," one of them shouted. "Now."
"What's going on?"
They didn't answer her; they simply went over to her and nudged her toward the door. Lexa grabbed her clothes and her bag from the chair by the side of the bed and followed them outside, feeling exposed in her just her undershirt and thin pair of shorts. But she would do as she was told. She had to.
Where were they going, Lexa wondered? After hastily throwing on her clothes, she followed Kane and the rest of the council to a chamber room deeper within the building, laden with dim lighting and hard, metal chairs. There were also a few paintings displayed (where did they get them, she wondered?) as well as a large monitor.
"What's going on?" Clarke blasted into the room just then, her hair a frizzy mess of blonde curls. She was still in her pajamas-a flowy red t-shirt with short gray pants. And she looked angry, yet concerned. As she was prone to mix together.
Her eyes caught Lexa's, and Lexa merely gazed back. "I don't know. They dragged me in here just now."
More people filed in behind them (including Abby, Raven, Bellamy, Monty, and some others Lexa didn't recognize) and then Kane raised his hands to quiet the chatter.
"It's the Ice Nation," he simply said, his eyes lingering on Lexa as he surveyed the room. "They've invaded and are on their way to the summit."
The room grew quiet. Everyone shifted their gazes from Kane to Lexa, and Lexa felt her brain go into overdrive.
Why would Azgeda do that? It didn't make any sense. The mountain had fallen, to be sure, but their alliance remained. Each leader of the twelve clans took Lexa's mark on their arms. They were bound by flesh. And attacking the other leaders during a summit was poor taste, even for Nia. They must be up to something else. If only Lexa had her trusted advisors, like Titus, and Mantis, and Stravo...
"Where are they?" Clarke demanded, stepping to the front of the group. Her blue eyes were fire. "How can we stop them?"
"Maybe she can tell us," someone from the back shouted. "Why is it they choose to invade now after she's gathered all these people here for a summit?"
Lexa didn't say anything as people began to mutter all around her. Clarke was standing only a few feet away, and her eyes linked with Lexa's. Lexa saw suspicion there. Nothing but cold, hard suspicion. But beneath that, Lexa could swear she saw a pickle of doubt. But who was she doubting? Her people, or Lexa?
"Lexa," said Kane sharply. "What do you know about this?"
"Nothing." Lexa raised her head to meet his gaze. She wasn't intimidated by the Sky people's accusations. She was well used to them by now. "I told you everything I knew. This is uncharacteristically aggressive of them."
It really was, but Lexa knew enough about the Ice Nation not to be shocked. They'd never done anything quite this bold, but they were prone to make moves on impulse and not heed traditional customs. There was Costia's abduction, of course, where they broke all customs and tact and expectancy, but this was different. This wasn't trying to sabotage Lexa personally; this was trying to bring destruction upon all the clans and all their people.
Lexa knew the Sky People didn't trust her. As she answered their questions and assured them of her commitment to their peace treaty, she knew she had a long road ahead of her. They were to swiftly assemble with the other clan leaders, but after that, the Sky People would make their own decisions. Lexa could only hope their decisions would all lead to warding off the Ice Nation.
Author's note:
Thanks so much for reading!