A/N - Wasn't in college today so the chapters gone up nice and early :) Thank you for all your review last chapter! Also Karter, putting your email in the review didn't work :( try putting it with a space between the and the .'s, that should work :) I'm enjoying writing this so much guys and I can't wait to write tomorrows chapter! Please review guys, love you all x
Lexa was woken up by the glaring light of the sun falling across her face, groaning she used her arm to block the light as she turned to look for Clarke, who was already awake and perched on the edge of the roof watching the early risers in her clan wandering through the camp.
"Good morning Clarke." Lexa called quietly.
As soon as she heard her name, Clarke spun around happily and moved closer to Lexa, kissing her softly before muttering her own good morning against Lexa's mouth. "How did you sleep?" She asked gently as Lexa pulled herself into a sitting position, resting her arms on her knees.
"I slept well but my braids are all undone now, fix them for me?" Lexa asked, as she started untangling her hair with her fingers.
With a smile, Clarke shifted over to help, nimble fingers re-braiding quickly before she tied off the last section and placed a gentle kiss against the side of Lexa's neck, "We should go get food."
"Maybe I don't want to go anywhere just yet." Lexa grinned, pulling Clarke down to sit across her outstretched legs and wrapping her strong arms around her waist.
The unmistakable voice of Abby Griffin floated up towards them, demanding to know whether anyone had seen Clarke since the day before.
Lexa sighed and rested her forehead against Clarke's shoulder, "It is endearing how your mother has no care for whether I have been seen since yesterday."
Clarke chuckled and moved off of Lexa's knee, "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Commander, and we really should get down."
Grinning Lexa peered over the edge before looking back at Clarke in annoyance, "Clarke someone stole our ladder."
Laughing Clarke motioned for her to stand up and join her on Clarke's side of the roof, "It's about the same height as the jump we made when we were running away from the Pauna, just try not to get an injury this time."
Lexa mock glared at her and then looked out properly herself, "It is about the same height but we need to jump far enough to clear the ditch there as well, sure you can do it?"
Rolling her eyes Clarke took a few steps back and then ran, leaping from the edge of the roof and flying through the air. She cleared the ditch but went down hard on her side, rolling a few times before sprawling on her back and staring up at the sky.
Lexa followed a moment later, landing gracefully and bouncing up to her feet smoothly as though she had just jumped down from her horse rather than a building. Spotting Clarke still lying on the floor slightly dazed, she started laughing and offered a hand to pull her up.
"You can't laugh at me, at least I'm not injured, when you messed up a jump you got a dislocated shoulder." Clarke huffed sulkily.
Shaking her head, Lexa just raised an eyebrow and gave her a look, "I was rushed by the Pauna trying to eat us, you're just uncoordinated."
Clarke made a shushing motion and then headed off, leading Lexa in the direction the hall Skaikru ate their meals in. On the way she motioned to one of the guards and told him to find her mother and tell her where she was, they were pleasantly surprised when he nodded immediately and went off to do what she asked.
As they walked through the mess halls doors they noticed Octavia and Lincoln sitting alone at a long table, when Octavia noticed them she immediately waved them over with an eager smile.
"Good morning Clarke, Lexa." She greeted casually, jumping up as they sat down to run and fetch food for the two of them.
As she left, Lincoln nodded his own greeting to the two girls, "Heda, Clarke." He was amazed with the familiarity that Octavia had shown towards the Commander and that she hadn't seemed fazed by it, but he didn't want to push his luck by greeting her with anything but the utmost respect.
Octavia arrived back within moments, dropping the two plates in front of them before taking her own seat again, "Mochof Octavia." Lexa smiled warmly, picking up the piece of bread on her plate and delicately pulling off piece, chewing them slowly.
They had just started eating when Ontari appeared beside them and swung her leg over the bench to sit next to Octavia who immediately wrapped her arms around the Azgeda warrior and squeezed tightly, to the amusement of the other three on the table who laughed at the confused look on Ontari's face.
"Octavia what are you doing?" She hissed at her, trying to wriggle out from her grasp but the sky girl proved to be far stronger than she appeared and her grip only tightened.
"I am showing the rest of this lot how warm and fuzzy you are." Octavia smirked, jerking her head towards the rest of the hall who were watching what was going on on their table intently.
Ontari rolled her eyes and prised open Octavia's fingers, pushing her back towards Lincoln, "Go back to the poor man who has been roped in to spending the rest of his life putting up with you."
Lincoln laughed aloud as Octavia gasped and clutched at her chest dramatically. "I am offended, Clarke she has insulted me and as my clan leader you need to answer this insult."
Clarke held up her hands to ward off her demanding look, grinning widely, "I'm not getting involved in this one O."
"I'm actually with Ontari on this one, Lincoln you have my condolences." Lexa chipped in impassively, sipping her drink slowly.
Octavia gaped at her as the rest of the table burst into laughter. Apart from Lexa who just stared at her for a moment, eyes sparkling humorously, before winking at her across the top of her mug.
In the midst of the laughter, Lexa's eyes suddenly hardened and she leapt up from her seat and span round to seize hold of someone walking past their table, pinning them against the wall firmly. "What did you just say?" She asked quietly.
"I just..." He stammered as she twisted his arm against his back.
"You're never going to say anything like that again, are you?" Lexa growled down his ear, as he whimpered at the pain in his arm.
"No."
"No what?" She twisted his arm once more for good measure.
"No Commander, I won't say anything like that again Commander. I'm sorry." He cried out, as she released him and pushed him away, motioning for him to leave.
Then she sat back down at the table and picked up her mug like nothing had happened.
"What was that?" Raven asked, as she sat down on the other side of Clarke, closely shadowed by Clarke's mother who had just been doing a checkup of her leg in the med bay.
"Nothing." Lexa shrugged lightly, tapping the side of the mug with her index finger thoughtfully.
Clarke gestured with her hands as she explained, "He made some kind of comment, about grounders clearly, which is why there was such a strong reaction. And Lexa heard it because she has ears like a bat."
Raven chuckled as Lexa rolled her eyes at Clarke, having heard the flying mammal analogy multiple times whenever she foiled yet another attempt of Clarke's to sneak up on her.
Humming slightly in the back of her throat, Clarke stared at Lexa's face intently, her fingers twitching as though they held a pencil. Recognizing that look on her face, Lexa sighed and reached into her coat, pulling out a thin sheet of folded paper and a lump of charcoal. Dropping them in front of Clarke she shook her head slightly, "When we get back to Polis I am getting you a coat with room to carry your own drawing supplies Clarke."
Clarke nodded absently, already sketching rough shapes on the paper as Lexa turned back to the rest of the table, ignoring Clarke who would occasionally lean in close to study part of her face before ducking down again to rapidly scribble on the paper.
As they ate together they held a light conversation, casually remarking on how far Arcadia had come in the last few months and how much had to be done before the start of winter.
When all the food was gone, Lexa tapped the table in front of Ontari and then stood up, walking away as Ontari scrambled to catch up with her.
"Where are they going?" Abby asked curiously, not having seen Lexa go anywhere without Clarke since they arrived at Arcadia.
Octavia glanced round and then shrugged, "Probably to one of Ontari's private lessons with Lexa."
Lincoln looked at her in surprise, "Why would the Commander be privately tutoring a member of Azgeda?"
"Because she's a night blood." Clarke piped up, smudging the charcoal on the paper carefully before her eyes flickered up to meet Lincoln's as he stared at her in shock. "Nia kept her from the capitol until she died and now Ontari's training with the other night bloods but she is taking private lessons from Lexa as well because she's behind on everything but the fighting aspects."
"Is it only night bloods who can lead your people Lincoln?" Abby asked him as Clarke went back to her drawing.
"Yes." He answered quickly, "If someone without night blood tries to become Heda then they die during the ascension."
"What's that?"
"No one knows." Lincoln said, "Only the flame keeper and Heda know what happens during ascension."
"Well..." Clarke cut in grinning, having quizzed Lexa on everything surrounding her black blood for quite a while, during which she had learned everything that Lexa knew about the origins of the Commander line and how the Ascension works after Lexa told her about the meeting she had had with Rebecca.
Raven whistled as she caught sight of the drawing Clarke was in the midst of creating, "Why does Lexa put up with you?"
It was a picture of the Commander, with carefully sketched fuzzy black ears poking out from her hair. Glossy black wings flared out from her back and her teeth jutted down over her bottom lip like tiny fangs.
Clarke shrugged, "You should see the picture I drew of her last week, I think she secretly wanted to hang it on the wall but was still too busy pretending to be mad at me for it."
Lexa and Ontari walked quickly through the camp until they reached the gates, fixing the guard with a cold look, Lexa ordered for them to be open and slipped out without a second glance back. They moved across the grass field to the tree line and then with a quick grin thrown back over her shoulder, Lexa leapt up to a low hanging branch, racing up the tree like a squirrel.
Ontari stood at the base helplessly for a moment before copying Lexa and pulling herself up to the top where the Commander was waiting, but her ascent lacked the grace and speed that Lexa had made to seem so effortless.
When she reached the thick branch Lexa was sat on she found her waiting patiently, lounging across the branch like a cat.
"Don't feel bad." Lexa smiled, "Trikru are raised from birth in the forest, no one can climb like we can."
Ontari smiled back and settled herself with her back against the trunk, not trusting her balance to keep her steady if she ventured out further like Lexa had.
"If Clarke asks," Lexa began again, "Tell her that the forest was an important part of the lesson, in reality I just dislike Arcadia, there's no space to breath."
She nodded quickly in agreement, completely understanding what Lexa was saying. Grounders had the entire continent to spread across, space was never an issue, but Skaikru built so small and close together that it was uncomfortable for those that had grown up with limitless freedom to roam.
"You still think I'm going to kill you, don't you?" Lexa asked her calmly, dangling her feet down on either side of the branch.
"It's what I would do." Ontari replied, just as calm, as though they were just remarking on the weather.
Lexa tilted her head to the side, "Go on, tell me why I should kill you?"
Ontari rested her head backwards, looking up at the sky through the leaves, "I am a wild card, you have no way of knowing how I will react to things because you have only just met me. I am a night blood so when you die I am entitled to my place in the conclave. If I fight, I am older and so more experienced than your first choice for your successor. Relating to that, if I win then I will have killed the boy that you consider family." She looked back at Lexa, "I was trained by Nia, I threaten all you have built, I don't see a reason for you to stay your hand. Yet here we are."
"Yet here we are." Lexa echoed softly. "You are right with all your points, and if we were currently at war with Azgeda then I would not hesitate and you would be dead now ten times over. But, we are at peace and I have a great respect for your King. You yourself have also shown that you are not the ruthless monster that Nia would have made you into if she could. And then there's Octavia, Octavia considers you a friend, and really that is probably the strongest factor in my decision to let you live. Whatever you have said to her, you have convinced her that you are trustworthy, and Octavia, doesn't trust easily shall we say."
"I told her about Nia." Ontari murmured, peering over the edge and feeling her stomach twist at how high they were, "Told her about the training I was put through from when my night blood was first discovered."
"How old were you?" Lexa asked gently.
"Four."
Lexa's eyes widened, "Nia started your training from when you were four? That is against every rule we have, the rules were bent for me and even then I still didn't begin until I was six."
Ontari sighed, "Not training exactly, at least not with weapons, Nia had to make me loyal to her first. Most of the first three years was just constant conditioning to make me want to please her. She was clever about it as well, when I was younger I was made to think that she was doing everything out of love for me, as the daughter she never had. As I got older I started to see the truth of it, but by that time it was fear of her that kept me in line. I hated that woman more than anything else in this world."
"If you hated her so much, why stop Clarke from killing her?" Lexa asked curiously, having wondered that from when Roan had told her how Ontari had celebrated Nia's death.
"Because if Clarke had of failed then my life would have been hell. She wanted a bodyguard until she could make me a puppet, so I was trained in how to spot assassination attempts a mile off starting from when I was around ten. If Clarke had gotten the dosage even slightly off and Nia had survived? I couldn't take that chance." Ontari explained quietly, stroking her fingers absently over a knot in the wood by her knee.
"I'm not going to kill you Ontari. And I think that I would feel my legacy was secured if either you or Aden took my throne, if the other became their General." Lexa leaned forward, staring at Ontari intently who looked back at her in confusion.
"But only one night blood survives the conclave."
"True." Lexa nodded, "But with Titus dead there is no flame keeper to force tradition on us at every step. There are so few night bloods alive, we shouldn't be killing each other, it makes no sense. I want to propose a new system where the conclave doesn't end in the deaths of all but one, and I want you to help me do it."
"Me?"
"You and Aden are the strongest night bloods I have in training, and your strengths balance out each other's weaknesses. When I die I want the next conclave to be the first of it's kind. Will you help me?" Lexa asked seriously, wanting Ontari's full support if she was going to be breaking a tradition that had been running since the first Commander.
"Of course Lexa." Ontari replied, taking the hand Lexa offered and shaking it firmly.
"Mochof Ontari, now let's head back to camp." Lexa smiled.
Ontari stared back down at the very far away ground doubtfully, "I may need some help with that."