A/N - Wow you guys really like the last chapter which I was so glad to hear :) So here's a double length chapter as a thank you for all the incredibly nice review you sent me and also because I was babysitting and had run out of Slasher episodes to watch haha! Please enjoy, and don't forget to review! xx
Octavia paced anxiously just inside the city gate as Indra watched on in annoyance, although she was also slightly amused by her seconds persistent ramblings.
For just under half an hour, Indra had had to endure Octavia's anxiety about Skaikru's impending arrival at Polis, which was due to happen at any minute. Really Lexa and Clarke should have been here already but it seemed the commander was busy in a private meeting with Wanheda that morning. When a guard had tried to summon the commander down to the gate, he had found the door barred and a fierce yell from within telling him to back off if he wanted to keep his head.
Octavia had laughed at that and told Indra to leave them be, Lexa would come down to meet the Skaikru when she had to but it would be unwise to try and prise her from Clarke until the very last possible moment.
"They're here!" A shout came from the trees above them, where scouts were posted overlooking the main road.
Indra nodded to the gate keepers who swung it open immediately, a young boy shot passed them, heading to the tower to tell Lexa her guests had arrived. The Skaikru party marched through quickly, Kane, Abby, Raven and a handful of other's that Indra didn't recognize by name all crowded in, taking the total of Skaikru in Polis up to around twenty.
"Marcus." Indra greeted her friend warmly, taking his arm in a firm grip, "I am glad you are here as a friend again."
Kane smiled at her, "Me too Indra."
"Where is my daughter?" Abby asked impatiently, stepping up to Kane's shoulder to try and spot Clarke among the masses of grounders who had come to watch the sky people enter their city, a lot of mix feelings were present in the people present, a fact that didn't go unnoticed.
Raven grinned at Octavia who smiled back at her happy. When Abby asked about Clarke, Octavia struggled to mask a snort of laughter which only Raven managed to pick up on, raising an eyebrow at Octavia who shook her her head quickly, the gesture being a promise to fill her in later.
"Well anyway, now that we're here we should really talk about-"
Octavia moved forwards, aware that the grounders were noticeably bristly at Abby's commanding attitude directed towards Octavia. "I've organised with Heda for you all to have room on the lower levels of Polis tower for as long as you're staying in the capitol, so we will take you there now and then we can meet with Heda and Wanheda later on."
Abby clenched her jaw slightly, Kane beside her wisely staying silent after the warning look Indra shot him, "Octavia I appreciate everything you have done but-"
"No buts." Octavia met her head on, "After the whole mess with Pike, Skaikru lost the right to govern themselves as they wished. Instead the commander has decreed that the only leader of Skaikru is Clarke. And I am second to her and so manage the every day relations between our clan and the coalition, if you don't like it feel free to follow in Pike's lead, see how far it takes you?" She spoke to the entire Skaikru party, meeting Raven's eyes halfway through, who looked back at her with an all new respect after knocking back Abby, who had been incredibly controlling since they removed Pike from power, seemingly determined to ensure that every person was toeing the line herself to avoid another conflict with the grounders.
Abby was furious, and all the arkers could see it in the tense line of her shoulder, but surrounded by hundreds of grounders she forced herself to swallow her rage and incline her head slightly, "None of us want that."
"Good, follow us then." Octavia spun and marched confidently off through the streets, not waiting for the Skaikru to scramble after her, although she did drop her pace slightly, mindful of Raven's leg and not wanting her friend to put unnecessary strain on it.
As they passed through the main market, they saw Clarke and Lexa themselves, standing like the ultimate power couple at the front doors to the tower. They were dressed in their warrior clothing but had forgone warpaint.
Raven whistled softly when she saw the two of them, which brought another chuckle from Octavia who was the only arker to be aware of the true relationship between the two leaders. She did suspect Abby had suspicions though and was strongly in denial for a multitude of reasons that all boiled down to her not trusting Lexa, much like Octavia herself used to not trust the commander.
"Welcome, all of you." Lexa greeted, her face a perfect mask of calm, but from the subtle amused smirk on Clarke's face, it was clear to both Indra and Octavia that Clarke had made Lexa meet them on arrival instead of later after they had settled into their rooms and Heda was less than pleased. "Some of you have visited the capitol before, but for those who haven't, welcome to Polis."
Clarke smiled warmly at her people, "We're glad that we are all able to be here together peacefully after the last few weeks. Octavia should have already told you where you're staying?" Octavia nodded back at her quickly. "Good, so settle in and then we can all have lunch together before the opening ceremony of the tournament tonight."
Abby tried to catch her attention but Clarke had already nodded at them and walked away, closely followed by Lexa as they headed into the town properly.
"I'm going after her." She whispered to Kane, "Cover for me, I'll be back soon."
"The grounders may not be pleased with that." He whispered back, concerned for the reaction to one of the sky people wandering the city alone.
"Why, are we prisoners?" She slipped away before he could reply, disappearing in the same direction as Lexa and Clarke. Kane looked to Octavia who shrugged, if Abby wanted to piss Clarke off within five minutes of arriving then that was her business, she shouldn't be in any danger as long as she didn't do anything unbelievably stupid.
It wasn't hard for to follow after the two young women, a path was cut through the crowd as they moved and they were slowed by everyone who wanted to speak to the commander personally, although Abby soon noticed that as many people wanted to speak to her daughter as wanted to speak to Lexa, which she didn't quite understand.
Quietly she slipped through the crowd, finding herself fascinated by the way people reacted to the two of them, once they had cleared the market area she intended to approach but someone caught their attention before her.
A young girl sitting against a wall, crying and obviously alone.
They were on a much quieter street now and no one was around except for Lexa, Clarke and Abby who was still watching from a distance. So she saw as Lexa tenderly wiped away the girls tears and said some words to her in a hushed whisper, which the child nodded at eagerly. Abby caught the small smile from her daughter and then watched as she gently pushed Lexa to the side, patting a spot on Lexa's hip for some unfathomable reason, and then she lifted the child into her own arms.
Lexa seemed to shake her head at Clarke with an amused grin and then gestured with an arm down a side street, which Clarke immediately started down. Abby followed them all the way to a building which lots of children where playing in front of. A panicking older woman visibly sagged with relief as she caught sight of the girl in Clarke's arms, taking her and holding her tight as Lexa and Clarke shared a pleased smile. The woman started to bow to them but Lexa caught her hand to stop her, bending slightly at the waist herself before leaving after one last gentle ruffle of the girls hair. Clarke followed after she had said her own good bye.
As soon as they were around a corner and finally alone, to the best of their knowledge, Clarke pulled Lexa into her arms and pressed her face against her shoulder, when she pulled her head back Abby saw that she was laughing. Then as she watched Lexa leaned down and kissed her daughter with the ease and familiarity of someone who had done much more than just kiss Clarke.
All plans to confront Clarke about how she had ignored her completely when she arrived fled her mind, her head reeling she just turned and walked away.
When the Skaikru party walked into the banquet hall that had been set up for them, they were amazed at the array of food that had been prepared. They swarmed towards the table wonderingly, but Octavia quickly jumped in to warn the that it would be considered insulting if they started eating before Lexa and Clarke arrived back, which wouldn't be too long.
So they all took their seats again, Abby frowned bitterly when they were blocked from taking the two seats in the center which afforded the best view of the entire table, being informed that those were Clarke and Lexa's places. Adding injury to insult was then when Indra and Octavia took the places on either side of their chairs as though it was their right to sit in those honored spots, which in the grounders eyes it was. Kane had noticed Abby's anger on their way to the lunch, but had fallen short when trying to get her to tell him what it was about.
"So where's Lincoln?" Octavia asked conversationally, rescuing Kane from the awkward silence that Abby was creating, "I was going to ask before but I've had a lot to do today and it was important to get you all into the city and set up first before I started asking questions about what's going on back at Arkadia."
Kane smiled at her, "He's actually taking care of things back home for us." At Octavia's proud smile he continued gladly, "Our people really trust him now Octavia and we could think of no one better to take care of them whilst we were here."
"That's good to hear." Lexa and Clarke had managed to slip in unnoticed, making their approach from behind the side of the table Abby and Kane were sat at. Walking round they took their seats, Octavia and Indra stood respectfully until they had sat down again, "Thank you for waiting for us, I trust you weren't sitting here too long."
Octavia smiled and nodded her head before serving herself from a delicious smelling dish in front of her. The rest of them took their cue from her and started eating as well.
A hushed conversation in Trigedasleng took place amongst the leaders and their right hand warriors as the sky people started eating, leaving Abby and Kane feeling more out of the loop than ever, and then Lexa shook her head, "Ai don sen in chit bilaik ai gaf sen in, jus no drien jus daun Indra." She sighed, "Let it be, I will hear what she has to say tomorrow and then we can go from there."
Whatever they had been talking about, Indra still did not look happy, but didn't argue further.
"Are you enjoying Polis?" Clarke asked her mother, slightly taken aback when she got a hostile silence directed back at her. "Mom, what's wrong?"
Abby's fists clenched angrily, "Nothing."
"Look if you're upset about me not speaking to you earlier, we had a lot of things we needed to do and I knew I would be seeing you now." Clarke tried to appease her mother, feeling slightly guilty, but she had promised the morning to Lexa before the week entertaining the Skaikru, it was the only reason Lexa agreed to leave their room before noon.
"Things like kiss the woman who abandoned you at Mount Weather." Abby shot back, in a hushed whisper so that the rest of the table just missed it.
Clarke's face hardened immediately and she stood up from the table, "Come with me, now." She stalked off out the room, leaving Abby with nothing to do with follow, suddenly seeing the irony of the role reversal as she felt like a child about to be scolded and almost second guessed the anger she was feeling.
Lexa looked at Kane blankly as though nothing had happened, "So, how are preparations for winter coming along?"
"Ok, what the actual hell?" Clarke yelled, once they were in a private room that she knew for a fact wasn't used unless there were massive amounts of guests from visiting clans.
"I saw you after you took that child back to where it belonged." Abby shouted back.
"So you followed us?" Clarke asked, sounding hurt, "And secondly, what is between Lexa and I is none of your business, why can't you just be happy for me?"
"I would if it were anyone else!" Abby ranted, "And how do you even know that she feels anything for you at all?"
"Oh my god, are you really that shortsighted? Do you not remember everything she has done for our people in the last few weeks?" Clarke laughed disbelievingly.
"Have you considered that maybe she is just using you to stop the other clans from turning on her. She said herself that you withholding your vote is the only thing that saved her!"
"Lexa letting Skaikru into the coalition is what caused the attempted coup in the first place!"
"Clarke I'm trying to protect you!"
"We're engaged!"
Abby's jaw dropped and Clarke's hand flew to her mouth, "I didn't mean to tell you like that, mom I-"
Abby shook off the hand that Clarke tried to rest on her shoulder, "How am I meant to react to this?" She asked, sounding tired rather than angry now.
Clarke sighed realizing that all of this was stemming from distrust and concern for Clarke herself, "Mom I love you, but I also love Lexa. She took a bullet the day before we came to challenge Pike, because people here didn't agree with what she was doing, and what she was doing was protecting our people, for me! I know you don't understand yet but please, give her a chance before you condemn this."
Abby stared at her blankly, and for a moment Clarke thought she'd lost her, but then she nodded, "I don't know if I will be able to understand this ever Clarke, but as long as you swear to me that you are actually happy, I guess I can maybe try." She caved, reluctantly but a lot calmer than she had been moments before.
Clarke's eyes filled with happy tears and she launched herself at Abby, wrapping her arms around her neck tightly, "I am, I promise. I know it's soon but if there's one thing I've learnt down here, it's that we can't afford to wait because we have no idea when the next fight will be. Or, who will be coming home from it."