A/N - New chapter! Seriously cannot believe how many followers I have on this, I literally have shed tears today guys because I am just so grateful for you all. Especially the people who engage me in conversation about my fic as well, I love that so much! In the last chapter I mentioned a crossover and got a few positive responses, so in case your not subscribed to me and missed it you can go on my profile and it's called Polis' Guardian. Please review, it means the world to me. See you in the next chapter!

For the second time in as many days, Clarke woke up to find Lexa missing from their bed, this time she just rolled her eyes and pulled herself up. Just as she had reached a sitting position Lexa crept through the door, carrying a tray with a selection of fresh fruit and freshly baked bread.

"You brought me breakfast?" Clarke asked in amusement.

Lexa face fell slightly when she saw Clarke was already awake, but she smiled and came over to the edge of the bed, placing the tray on Clarke's lap and sitting next to her, "Yes I did, and look...I survived the trip."

Clarke scowled her and stuck her tongue out, but she was soon smiling at Lexa's happy grin and dug into the food her girlfriend had brought back for her. "So what's the special occasion?" She asked curiously.

"The first day of the tournament starts tomorrow, we have lot's of arrangements to make and it's going to take all day." Clarke looked down glumly until Lexa chuckled and tapped her under the chin, "Or we can get Indra and Octavia to work out the final details as our right hands, and we can take a boat across the lake with Aden."

Clarke brightened and nodded, a wicked grin flickering across her face as she thought about how happy Octavia would be about the arrangement. She quickly swallowed the last mouthful of bread and passed Lexa the tray so she could finish off the rest of the fruit.

Pulling on her jacket and shoes she looked at Lexa thoughtfully, "You know when you told me about how your people choose a new leader? And you have repeatedly told me death is not the end. What do you actually mean?"

Lexa leaned back, her arms outstretched behind her to brace against the bed, "When a commander falls the spirit moves to the winner of the conclave, because the strongest is destined to survive and take on the mantle of being the people's Heda. After that they are joined to the entire commander line, on the nights when I can't sleep it is because all the commanders are talking to me at once in my dreams. I don't know how to explain it to you Clarke, but I know that if anything ever happened to me I wouldn't give the new commander a single moment of rest unless they had made sure you were safe."

Clarke smiled at the fierce sincerity burning in Lexa's eyes, "I love you for that, but let's keep your spirit firmly where it is ok?"

Laughing, Lexa nodded gladly, "I would prefer that as well Clarke, are you ready to depart?"

"Yes, do we need to go and tell Octavia and Indra what is happening?"

Lexa smirked mischievously, "I've sent them a message, there's less passive aggressive glaring that way." Clarke giggled slightly at her rather cryptic words but shrugged and took the offered hand to pull her from the chair where she had sat to tie her boots.

"Where will Aden be?"

Leading Clarke from the room, Lexa took them down a flight of stairs to the left of the elevator to a floor a lot less well kept than the commanders own. It was as though a horde of ferocious warriors had charged through attacking everything in sight whether it was a threat or not. Lexa laughed when Clarke voiced her internal monologue out loud.

"You are close, the night bloods stay on this level and there is a tendency for their games to get rather destructive, Titus always disapproved of course but I find that learning through play can be effective as having lessons drilled into them for endless hours at a time. And at least if they are here then we have healers ready at all times."

Clarke laughed, as if on cue a young boy charged out from one of the rooms, Aden following hot on his heels. Their faces where rather comical when they caught sight of Lexa and dropped to their knees.

"Heda." They both chimed, as Aden peered up to try and figure out what Lexa was thinking, "We didn't know you would be visiting us and-"

"Em pleni!" Lexa raised an arm and glared at the two of them, "Clearly I overestimated your maturity and ability to continue your studies in the absence of a teacher."

Aden and the other boy looked visibly deflated at disappointing her until Lexa gave them both a gentle smile and motioned for them to stand up, "This is your home, you know as well as I that this hall is for you to forget the responsibilities you must bear outside of it, so don't apologize for enjoying your time together in your own home. However, it would be nice if you would desist from tearing around with edged blades unless there's an adult present to fetch a healer in the event of an unfortunate accident."

Aden nodded sheepishly and patted the other boy on the shoulder to usher him back to his own room, "I'm sorry Heda, I should have thought about that."

Lexa nodded, "Making mistakes at your current age is the best thing you can do Aden, make all your errors now and learn from them, and then you will never look foolish in front of those who would do you harm when you one day lead our people."

Bowing his head respectfully he acknowledged the advice and then lifted his chin proudly to meet Lexa's gaze, "Sha Heda, thank you for sharing your wisdom."

Clarke struggled to contain a laugh, suddenly realizing why Lexa had never been able to deal with Skaikru very well. She must have felt so taken aback with every comment sent her way without the grand deference to her leadership, not to mention that no sky person ever hung on her every word in the way her own people did.

"So, Aden. Do you want to join us for a trip?" Clarke smiled, derailing whatever lecture Lexa was probably going to come out with next, it occurred to her that Lexa would have made a brilliant teacher back on the ark, she never missed an opportunity to share the knowledge she had with as many as possible.

Aden nodded eagerly as Lexa's forehead wrinkled slightly at having been interrupted by her impatient girlfriend. "You need to gather enough things for a trip across the lake then Aden, we will only be going for a few hours so just make standard preparations for boat travel."

Nodding again, he bowed to both leaders and retreated into his room to gather his things, as Lexa and Clarke headed down towards the lake bordering two of the edges of Polis to prepare a small row boat to ride in to the other side.

"Standard preparations?" Clarke asked, slightly suspiciously as this was the first time she had heard it mentioned.

"Don't worry." Lexa said reassuringly, "I have already gathered everything the two of us will need so all you need to do is sit back and enjoy."

Clarke stared at Lexa for a long moment before taking her hand and climbing into the boat as Aden finally caught up and rushed along the pier towards them.

"You better not be planning anything commander."

Lexa laughed, trying to look offended but failing miserably, unable to cover her amusement at how Clarke was raking her eyes over the boat, expecting something but not knowing what.

"Relax Clarke, what could I possibly be planning with Aden here as a witness. Not everything is a plot against you."

Aden smiled at her but it did nothing to ease the feeling that something was definitely going to happy on this little trip.