A/N: Hey :) So I've been feeling a little guilty that recent chapters have been dropping down word count wise, so here is a 3,000 word chapter for you all that I've been working on all day! :D I hope you guys like it, please don't forget to review and let me know what you think! Love you guys xx
The ride to TonDC passed more slowly for Lexa than it ever had before, as they all slowed to a walk to accommodate Raven and make the ride as painless as possible for her. They were also mindful that it was the first time Cal had been on an extended journey so they were careful to break for lunch rather than eating in the saddle.
Ontari slid down to sit next to Raven with her back against a tree as they watched Cal race around, jumping over the stream they had stopped next to, chased by Octavia who was acting just as giddy as he was.
"I've never seen him like this." Raven remarked quietly, "He's always been the quietest kid in Arcadia, keeping to himself to avoid all the pitying looks he always gets because of his parents."
Ontari nodded understandingly, "People are always so well meaning, but few realise that pity helps no one. Sympathy yes, but pity just serves to create a distance between people."
Raven's hand went to the top of her leg without any conscious thought, running her fingers along the top of her brace. "I understand how he feels, funny really, that the person I related to most in Arcadia was an orphaned child."
Ontari hesitated for a second, before placing her hand over Raven's, "Me too."
Smiling at her, Raven twisted her wrist around so their hands were palm to palm, trailing her fingernails along the underside of Ontari's hand, "I was with this man, Wick his name was, and at first he made me feel normal again. But eventually? Maybe I drove him away, but I couldn't get past the look in his eyes when he thought I wasn't paying attention."
"I think you are one of the strongest people I have ever met." Ontari said firmly, "I have seen many warriors fail to get past an injury, acting like their life is now over. But you are the first person I have ever met who has refused to be defined by it, when I look at you I feel no pity. I just admire your strength."
They were pulled from their quiet moment as Cal suddenly flung himself at the two of them, landing heavily on Ontari's legs as he clutched for Raven's arms, squealing for them to save him from Octavia.
Raven laughed and pulled him onto her knee, allowing Ontari to surge forward and tackle Octavia to the floor as Cal cheered and wrapped his arms around Raven's neck with a smug look towards Octavia who was pinned to the floor.
Tickling at his sides lightly, Raven sat Cal beside her to watch as the two warriors rolled across the floor. Octavia looked to Lincoln as he watched them with an amused grin, and cried out for him to get the Azgeda warrior off of her.
Lincoln smiled and walked forwards to help her, but Clarke gave her own laugh and shoved Lexa forwards quickly to head him off. Running over to Raven herself to help her defend Cal if either of the couple got past Ontari and Lexa.
The game dragged on, as Lexa and Ontari quickly set up a blockade between the boy and Lincoln and Octavia who stubbornly refused to give up, running at them again and again to try and break through.
Eventually, Lexa had Lincoln pinned with her knee pressed into the small of her back. Ontari had one of Octavia's arms but then the other girl made a sudden break for freedom, which tipped their weight too far to the side and they toppled over the edge, rolling down the bank towards the stream still wrestling with each other.
Giving up on the game, the others all rushed to the edge to watch as the two warrior crashed into the shallow stream with a splash, instantly soaked through to the bone.
With a gasp, the two of them shot to their feet, finally releasing their grips as their hair hung damply around their faces.
Lexa crossed her arms and shook her head at the two of them with a small grin, as the others at the top of the ridge doubled over laughing.
"Ontari, the pride of Azgeda's armies. And Octavia of the sky people, one of the greatest young warriors of this generation, born for greatness. Falling in a stream whilst fighting like children." Lexa announced dramatically as Clarke shook her head, unable to stop laughing at the miserable looks on their faces as water dripped off them.
Octavia rolled her eyes and began climbing up towards them, feet slipping in the mud, causing her to crash back down.
Ontari laughed at her before attempting to get up herself, falling before she even took two steps.
"Lincoln help me." Octavia groaned, clutching her knee where it had whacked into a rock when she fell.
Lexa held up a hand, "No Lincoln, they fell in their themselves, they need to get out themselves."
Ontari looked at her disbelievingly as Lexa quirked an eyebrow smugly. Shaking her head when she realised that none of them were actually going to help them, she offered an arm to Octavia, "Come on, we don't need their help."
The others disappeared away from the edge and went back to finishing their lunch and packing up to get ready to move again.
Throughout all of this, Indra just stayed near her horse, watching in disbelief of the childish behaviour being displayed by each and every one of them.
When Octavia and Ontari finally pulled themselves over the edge, they were all waiting for them, already mounted up and ready to go.
Octavia shook her head, "No way are we going anywhere in these clothes, we're soaking wet and covered in mud, you'll have to wait for a moment."
Everyone went into a fresh bout of laughter as the two of them pulled out a fresh set of clothes and disappeared into the bushes to switch their clothes over.
Once everyone was settled and ready to go, Lexa clicked her tongue and wheeled her horse around, leading them onto the road to take the final stretch of their journey towards TonDC.
"How long is it going to take for us to get to TonDC?" Clarke asked Lexa, "We didn't leave till late and we're losing daylight."
Lexa smiled and went to assure her but froze as her eyes noticed something in the distance coming towards them. Holding up her hand, she indicate for them all to stop and stay quiet.
Clarke leaned forwards to try and catch a glimpse of what she was seeing, but it didn't take long before it was apparent that Lexa had stopped them because of the two figures tearing towards them as though they were running for their lives.
As they turned the corner, the two people froze and Clarke finally realized that it was Murphy and a grounder girl.
"Heda!" Emori cried out in surprise, seemingly torn between bowing to Lexa and running in the opposite direction as fast as possible.
The sound of thundering hooves hit their eardrums and Lexa gave Clarke a confused look before turning back to the two of them.
Pointing towards a cluster of bushes behind Ontari and Cal's horse, she jerked her head quickly, "Hide there, don't move until I tell you."
Murphy didn't argue, seizing hold of Emori's wrist and dragging her past the group of horses and dropping to lie flat where Lexa had said.
It was less than a minute before the small army of Trikru warriors came into view, not immediately seeing Lexa who had dropped back to the rear of the group to see what they would do if they didn't know their Heda was watching them.
The front rider, a huge, hulking warrior, swung down from the saddle and stormed towards Clarke's horse, who had a hood pulled over her head to hide her braids and to shadow her face.
"Have you seen two people run past here?" He asked gruffly, in an angry yell.
"No we haven't." She answered calmly, shifting her horse sideways to block their eyeline to Cal who was frightened by the sight of so many armed warriors.
The man leaned towards Clarke intimidatingly, "Why do I not believe that? You are coming from the Skaikru camp. Maybe I will take you all to the Commander and let her deal with you all for hiding fugitives from her warriors."
Lexa dug her heels into her horses side and pulled the cover off her own head, "Maybe you should do that."
The man jerked backwards away from Clarke as she shook off her own hood and he realised who he was speaking too.
"Is this how you always treat people travelling on my roads?" Lexa asked coldly, as the warrior cowered backwards.
"Heda, I didn't realize this was your travelling party." He stammered, as Lexa leaned forwards to glare at him fiercely.
"You think that will save you? We live in an age of prosperity and I will not have warriors harassing travellers on the roads."
The warrior shook his head quickly, as his companions backed up, not willing to support him in the face of the Commanders wrath. "Of course not Heda, but there are two people we've been tracking and-"
"Two people?!" Lexa shouted angrily, sitting up straight and glaring at all of them. "Can none of you count? There are clearly more than two of us travelling so we are not the ones you are searching for. And as for you?"
She swung down from her horse to stand in front of the offending warrior, who cowered before the woman who was a good three feet shorter than him, "The next time you threaten someone, you will not use my name to do it." Lexa swung at him with the hilt of her blade, catching him in the side of the face and smirking when he hit the ground on his knees in front of her.
"All of you get out of my sight, before I turn you over to Wanheda for the insults you made towards her people."
Clarke grinned wickedly, playing into Lexa's act as the warriors looked to her in terror at the confirmation of who she was, scrambling backwards to get away, disappearing back towards the heart of Trikru lands as fast as their horses would carry them.
Once the other group was safely out of sight, Lexa called Murphy and Emori out of the bushes, who came to stand in front of her nervously.
To everyone's surprise, Lexa started chuckling lightly as she stared at the two of them, "You two, you are the ones that have cause all the trouble lately. I have had many reports of your thieving up and down the roads."
Murphy grinned sheepishly, as Emori just kept her head ducked down, avoiding the Commanders gaze, "I suppose you're going to kill us now then?"
Lexa smirked and shook her head, "I owe you a debt for the part you played in saving my life when Titus betrayed me Murphy kom Skaikru. Now we are even, although if I could make a suggestion? On the border of Trikru and Azgeda there are small encampments of Nia loyalists, if the two of you stole from them no one would question it. On the contrary, I would consider it a personal favour."
Murphy smiled at Lexa gratefully, pulling Emori closer to him, "Of course Commander, we will do that."
"Mochof Heda." Emori said quickly, backing away quickly before Lexa changed her mind and killed them anyway. Murphy acknowledged Clarke with a farewell nod before turning and running with her.
An amused smiled still playing across her lips, Lexa pulled herself up onto her horse and started moving again, closely followed by the rest of their group.
"You find the fact that there are two people stealing from travellers funny?" Clarke asked, confused about why Lexa amused by the entire thing.
Lexa's eyes were bright as she looked over at Clarke, "Reports have been pouring into Polis about a group of thieves on the roads through Trikru lands, and with every report the telling got grander, until I was starting to believe that someone may be raising an army against me. When in reality, it was two outcasts running round in the forest chased by half of my army and running rings around the lot of them."
Clarke chuckled and looked back at the others, "We're close enough to TonDC now that they will get there just fine on their own, race me?"
Lexa grinned and called back to Indra to continue leading the group as the two of them took off along the trail.
Ontari brought her horse alongside Raven's as the two of them disappeared and looked at her in concern, "I heard the name Murphy being mentioned back in Arcadia, are you ok?"
Raven smiled at her, touched by her gentle concern, "I'm fine, it was a long time ago and I decided a while back that I was done being angry about what happened. What's done is done right?"
Ontari grinned, arms cradling Cal who had fallen asleep as the sun had dipped below the horizon, "Grounders, as you call them, have practically built our entire culture on holding grudges, and Azgeda are some of the worst for it. Forgiveness isn't in our nature, and I find your ability to let go and move on perplexing."
Laughing Raven shook her head, "Forgiveness? Maybe not, but down here lines are too blurred to cling to anger."
Ontari just smiled at her, realizing it would be a long time until their people understood how the Skaikru thought.
Octavia edged closer to Lincoln and fake yawned dramatically, before quickly pulling herself sideways onto his horse, looping the reins of her own around his saddle.
"Octavia what are you doing?" He smiled at her, as she curled into his chest as he adjusted so that he could wrap his arm around her waist to stop her from falling.
"I'm tired, plus why ride when I can just do this and get you to do all the work?" She grinned as he rolled his eyes and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
Indra pulled her horse back when she caught sight of Octavia and glared at her sternly, "Are you a warrior or a child?"
Octavia sighed, "Come on Indra, there's no one else around and I promise that I'll get back on my own horse when we see TonDC."
Indra didn't say another word, staring calmly until Octavia groaned and shifted back over to her own horse, "We are less than a ten minute ride out from the village and you are soon to be joining our people. No second of mine would be caught riding like a child."
Indra's warning soon proved to be wise, as a group of Trikru met them less than two minutes later, waiting beside Clarke and Lexa, who was glaring at Clarke sulkily whenever no one else was paying attention.
"Clarke win your race Lexa?" Octavia asked quietly, laughing when the Commander just grunted and jumped down from her horse to speak to the villagers as they walked.
Clarke gave her own laugh as they all followed suit and dropped down from their horses as they reached the gates, walking through proudly with Lexa and Clarke leading them, closely followed by Octavia and Indra.
"This will be your home in a few days Octavia," Indra said proudly as they slipped into the camp quietly to avoid any fanfare at the arrival of their Heda, that would disturb the peoples night rest, "Wherever Trikru reside, TonDC is home to all of us."
Everyone beside Lexa and Indra were led to a small building that they were told served as a guest house.
Raven grinned at Clarke as they all walked up to the door, "There's no way you're staying here tonight is there?"
Clarke just winked and nodded to Lexa, "The Commander has a house in all major villages for if she ever comes to visit. And we have many important things to discuss tonight."
Laughing, Raven gave her a firm shove in the lower back to send her out the door towards Lexa, who was waiting for her with a small smile, nodding to Raven as she shut the door behind Clarke.
Clarke marvelled at the repairs that had gone into the village after the missile strike from the Mountain as they walked through towards Lexa's house, "This is so strange, it's like nothing ever happened here."
Lexa hummed and nodded as she inspected a house that she knew to be brand new, "Trikru are nothing if not resilient, no matter what happens, my people will survive and rebuild."
Clarke went to respond but was stopped in her tracks by the sight of Lexa's house, it was a perfect little cottage on the edge of town, to Clarke it was like something she had seen in a book of fairy tales when she was back on the Ark.
Smiling, Lexa wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her towards the door, "My home was one of the few buildings not touched by the missile strike, mostly because of how far out on the edge of the village it is. No one alive in this village has gone into this building besides myself and a single housekeeper that keeps it in perfect condition for me."
Feeling honoured that one of Lexa's few private hideaways was being shared with her, Clarke kissed her before pulling Lexa inside and straight upstairs to the bedroom.