Walking into her room, Lexa didn't even bat an eyelid at seeing Octavia fast asleep on her bed, glancing out the window, she hummed thoughtfully. It was only just past noon, Octavia must be really feeling the effects of her pregnancy to fall asleep so early.
Ignoring the other girl for the time being, Lexa made her way over to her desk, rifling through for the map she was after.
Once she had it in hand, she made for the door, pausing thoughtfully halfway before making a beeline for the bed and rapping Octavia across the back of the head with the rolled-up parchment.
"Ow!" Octavia growled out, not moving other than to lazily attempt to swat away the roll, "You can't just come into people's rooms and attack them." She grumbled under her breath.
"No." Lexa chuckled, an amused smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, "But I can attack invaders who infiltrate my own room."
Blearily opening her eyes and looking around, Octavia stared at Lexa, "Why am I in here?"
"Your guess, Octavia," Lexa sighed, holding out her hand to help her friend up, "Is as good as mine. I'm assuming you needed something?"
"I don't even remember." Octavia mumbled, climbing off the bed, "I'm losing my mind."
"You're pregnant, I hear they can be quite similar at times." Lexa grinned, following Octavia to the door.
They were met in the door way by Clarke, who looked slightly taken aback at the sight of her wife herding an exhausted looking Octavia out of the room. "Are you ok O?" Clarke asked with concern, when Octavia barely shifted to acknowledge her arrival.
"I'm just tired." She explained, shuffling past Clarke and out of the door. "I'm going to go to my actual bed."
Watching with concern, Lexa leaned out of the doorway, waiting until she was sure that Octavia had disappeared into her own room before turning back to Clarke.
"I wasn't expecting you back so soon, ai hodnes." She smiled, leaning in to kiss Clarke sweetly, "Weren't you meant to be training with Ontari and Raven all afternoon?"
"I'm never going to be able to use a bow, I've given up trying. I just don't have the upper body strength for it." Clarke laughed, slipping into the room properly to drop the pack she was carrying at the foot of their bed. "Why was Octavia in here? She looked dead on her feet."
"I found her fast asleep on the bed." Lexa mused thoughtfully, "She either came in here to ask me something and fell asleep, or she was too tired to realise she was in the wrong room."
"Either's possible." Clarke shrugged, "The second probably equally as likely, if Lincoln is ever gone over night, I have no doubts we'll end up with Octavia in here the entire time."
"Which is why I will never send him any further afield than TonDC." Lexa responded seriously, but her eyes sparkled with amusement.
Grinning as she began unlacing her boots, slipping into a lighter, worn pair of sandals, Clarke looked over at her wife, "How's your new guard?"
"She's barely said three words to me, is obedient to a fault, and a little too good at blending into the background." Lexa told her honestly, "But I see no malice in her, what's your assessment?"
Clarke hummed as she considered it, setting her boots to the side of the bed out of the way, "If I had been held in that mountain like she was, and then ordered to blow it up? I can see how that would be appealing. And it's not as though she's tried to hurt us since Nia died, we've all done terrible things to each other, it's time to stop blaming people for the past and move forwards."
"You are very wise Wanheda." Lexa told her with a firm nod, lips quirking up at the corner.
"What's that?" Clarke asked, noticing the roll of parchment still clutched in Lexa's hand.
Holding it up, Lexa shrugged lightly, "A map of the Shallow Valley. If Echo spent a lot of time there she will be able to confirm the accuracy of it."
"Is this a test...?" Clarke asked after a moment.
"No, what was that old saying…. Two birds one stone?" Lexa smiled. "And my hope is that she will offer any information she has on what Nia was looking for in the valley."
Clarke frowned as she looked at the map in Lexa's hands, "More of Nia's secrets, isn't that a chilling thought."
Smiling tiredly, Lexa leaned close to press a kiss to Clarke's lips, "I doubt we'll ever uncover them all, but she is long since gone. I will be free soon, do you have plans for the rest of the day?"
Shaking her head, Clarke ran her hand up Lexa's arm, "No, I was thinking we could just have a quiet evening together. Especially now, whilst Octavia is too out of it to bother us."
Humming quietly, Lexa dipped her chin, "Then I will be back soon, ai hod yu in, Clarke."
"I love you too."
Stealing one last kiss, Lexa ducked out of the room, heading for the staircase rather than the elevator.
It took ten minutes for her to descend the fifty-floored tower to the ground, but she took the opportunity to clear her mind and just enjoy the almost meditative mindless activity.
At the base, she hailed the head of her guards, enquiring as the too exact whereabouts of her newest shield.
It was with some irritation that she found Echo had been posted at the city limits on wall guard, but she allowed none of that to show, nodding her thanks before heading out into the city.
At the time of day, the streets were full of merchants and children, many of whom clamoured for her attention as she walked past.
With an endlessly patient smile, she took the time to greet each and every one, but declined the offer to play with them. Although she did promise that she would return within the week, bringing the rest of her family for a proper game.
Despite how many times she was stopped, she still managed to make it to the outer wall in a little under forty minutes.
Arriving there, she noticed two of her guards in a heated confrontation. One of them being Echo, who was growling furious at the other, cheeks tinged red with anger as she stood inches away from him gesturing angrily towards the forest.
Striding up quickly, she interposed her hand between the two of them, pushing Echo back firmly, "One of you explain what is happening now!" Lexa snapped out.
"Heda, she-!" The man Echo had been arguing with started, before being spoken over by Echo herself, who despite Lexa's appearance, still looked livid at him.
"I think someone may be in danger, and he's not letting me go find out!" Echo told Lexa.
"Explain." Lexa motioned her head towards the woods, "It doesn't seem like anything is amiss."
Pointing out into the forest, Echo answered her, anger giving way to respect as she spoke quickly but firmly, "A young girl, couldn't be no more than sixteen came by, headed into the forest saying she was going to pick berries. I spoke to her and she said she would be back within the hour. But it's been three already, I think something could have happened to her and it's starting to get dark."
"And you don't share this concern?" Lexa asked, turning to the man on the other side of the confrontation.
"I saw no such girl Heda, I think the Azgeda branwoda is attempting to shirk the duties she has been assigned." He shot back, glaring at Echo over Lexa's shoulder.
Looking between them, Lexa shook her head impatiently, giving a warning glance as Echo opened her mouth to retort. "Should I discover what she has said to be a lie, then there will be trouble. However, I am not in the habit of making assumptions, you, come with me." She barked at Echo, before striding puposefully off towards the forest.
Scrambling to catch up, Echo fell into step with Lexa, her long legs easily keeping pace as they moved towards the treeline.
As they moved into the forest, Lexa dropped her pace a little, to allow Echo to lead, critically keeping a close eye on her movements.
To her surprise, once they reached the cover of the canopy, Echo practically moved like a member of Trikru, examining the earth and the branches of the foliage around in an attempt to track the girl.
It wasn't long before she was nodding confidently to herself, brushing the dirt from her palms as she stood up and nodded off in a western direction, "I think she went this way Commander." Echo told her, waiting for Lexa's answering nod before heading off, moving quickly almost completely silent through the forest.
They walked in silence of almost half an hour, with Lexa taking the opportunity to study the Azgeda, who was leading her through the woods as though she'd grown up in them.
"Where were you born?" She asked eventually.
"Azgeda's capital." Echo answered, pulling herself over a fallen log smoothly.
"So you are Ice Nation born?" Lexa pressed, "Did you grow up in the city?"
Her voice clipped, almost clinical, Echo nodded, not looking back over her shoulder, "I did, I lived with my parents until I was seven and Nia took me in."
"Took you in?" Lexa pushed gently.
At that Echo did pause briefly, meeting Lexa's gaze evenly, "I suppose it was meant to seem generous to take in the orphans of Azgeda, but we both know why she did it."
Focusing back on the task at hand, Echo continued onwards, praying that Lexa would stop prying there.
Taking the hint that whatever happened wasn't something she wanted to discuss, Lexa began following, before almost immediately catching hold of Echo's arm to still her.
"Heda," Echo spoke hesistantly, "I'd really rather not-"
Shaking her head, Lexa tapped her ear, before pointing off to the right, "No, listen."
Focusing for a moment, the two women looked at each other before taking off in a sprint to the source of the noise they'd heard.
What they saw when they broke through the clearing, was the wolf about to pounce on the injured girl who was on the ground, dragging herself backwards frantically in an attempt to get away.
Drawing her sword, Lexa dove for it's back, blade cutting deep into the animal as it sprung forwards, but not enough to kill it.
In the same moment, Echo threw herself in the middle between the child and the world, letting out a piercing cry as teeth sunk deep into her shoulder. Gritting her teeth through it, she clutched at the knife tucked under her shirt, before jamming it into the throat of the animal whose jaws were still locked around her upper arm.
Striking again, Lexa drove her sword through the chest of the wolf, piercing it's heart.
As it took it's last breath, the jaws released their grip, but the weight of it was enough to take Echo to her knees before she managed to roll out from underneath it.
Lexa was at the child's side in an instant, gently assessing the injury she had taken to her leg that left her able to walk, glancing over to Echo to make sure she was ok.
Clutching at her shoulder, Echo gave a reassuring nod to Lexa, joining her at the child's side.
"We're going to look after you, what's your name?" Lexa asked kindly, still attempting to establish the scope of the injury.
"Sara." The girl stammered nervously, eyeing the body of the wolf and the two women who had come to her rescue, "Thank you Heda."
Smiling, Lexa nodded over to the other woman, blood dripping slowly through her fingers onto the forest floor, "Thank Echo, it was her who noticed you had been gone too long."
"Thank you." Sara told her gratefully.
"I'm glad we got to you when we did." Echo answered softly, keeping her hand clamped firmly over the teeth marks in her shoulder.
"What happened?" Lexa asked, as she carefully peeled the leg of the girls trousers upwards to reveal the ugly bruising and unnatural angle of the leg.
Pointing halfway up a tall embankment, Sara looked sheepish, "I climbed up to reach that berry bush near the top, but I slipped and fell. It was stupid, I should have been that far out here alone. If you didn't find me when you did..."
"But we did." Lexa told her firmly, "And you've learned a valuable lesson for the future." She told her seriously.
"Sha Heda."
Looking at Echo who looked like she'd make it back to Polis, but whose arm was going to be out of commision for the time being, Lexa sighed before slipping her arms underneath Sara and standing up.
"Let's head home."
The walk back felt torturously slow, and were it not for the thousands of hours training she had, Lexa was sure she wouldn't have been able to make it back carrying Sara.
Multiple times, Echo attempted to offer her help, but Lexa was not oblivious to how pale she was growing and so turned her down, staying focused only on the path ahead.
As the wall finally came into sight, Lexa flagged down the same guard who had been arguing against Echo, "Go and fetch a cart for me."
Looking shocked both that Echo hadn't lying and the state they had returned in, he span on his heel and ran to fulfill the command. Returning within minutes, he brought a single horse drawn cart up to where the three of them were waiting.
Carefully placing Sara into the back of the cart, Lexa nodded to Echo to climb in as well.
"I can walk, Heda." Echo protested weakly, before Lexa glared at her sternly.
"You're going to pass out at any moment, get in or I'll make you."
Not arguing any further, Echo dragged herself up next to Sara and sat quietly as Lexa exchanged hushed but clearly admonishing words with the guard, before taking the reins of the horse and leading them into the city.
They headed towards Clarke's hospital, the soonest appropriate person Lexa saw being sent to collect her wife and tell her to join them.
Within minutes of them finally arriving, so did Clarke, looking Lexa over first to make sure she was ok.
Once she was happy her wife was still in one piece, she stepped forwards and focused on the other two, "So tell me what happened?"