"You know you can talk to me." Octavia threw back over her shoulder, as she picked her way through the market.

Echo trailed after her, eyes scanning left and right as they walked, "Lexa assigned me as your guard, not a conversation partner."

"Huh," Octavia nodded thoughtfully, "You were far more chatty when you were manipulating us into storming the summit." She spoke aloud to herself, picking up various pieces of fabric at one of the stalls and testing the feel of them. "Do you think Lincoln would prefer a green or brown scarf?"

Shifting uneasily, Echo shook her head, "I don't know."

"Green I think." Octavia muttered to herself before flagging down the shopkeeper and dropping a few coins into her hand in exchange for the brightly coloured piece of material.

As they continued walking, she led Echo into a side street before turning to face her head on, "Look, you can relax ok? I'm not mad at you anymore, even Raven's been talked down by Ontari. We get it, Nia was a bitch, everyone hated her and she brought out the worst in the people around her."

Gritting her teeth, Echo shook her head, "Nia was my queen, she..."

"Made you do some really awful things? Did some really awful things to you?" Octavia pushed gently. "I know it's hard to break away from all of that, but it's ok to hate her. Ontari does and Nia basically raised her."

Echo didn't respond, staring at the ground quietly as Octavia watched on.

"You know that being my guard is essentially not a real job right?" Octavia asked eventually, "Despite all evidence to the contrary, I'm really not as hopeless as Lexa makes out. She wants to give you the chance to heal up and get to know all of us. Get to know how much better it is to be around people who actually care. Tell me honestly, if something had of happened to you on one of your spy missions, would Nia have cared? Would she have came looking?"

There was a long pause, before Echo shook her head once, a pained expression flitting across her face.

"You know, when I first thought I might be pregnant, I didn't tell anyone. But I was super freaked out and Clarke noticed something was up. Lexa came into my room, packed my bags and dragged me on a hunting trip. She literally dropped everything to take me away for a few days until I told her what was going on. And when I told her why I was so scared, she promised me an army of Trikru, Floukru, Azegeda and Skaikru warriors to protect my child no matter what." Octavia told Echo, a warm smile on her face, "Lexa is nothing like Nia, Roan is nothing like Nia. And make no mistake, Roan is part of our family too."

She paused for a moment, to make sure her words were sinking in, "Look, it's not going to happen overnight, but we're offering you an in if you want to take it. We all deserve some peace, and thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the exact reason Roan sent you to us. Just give us a chance to show you, life can be really great when you surround yourself with good people."

After a long period of silence, Echo nodded, "Ok, I just, haven't really spent much time around people as myself. I'm not sure if I even remember who that is."

"Don't worry about it!" Octavia grinned, looping her arm through Echo's and pulling her back into the main street, "We'll just find out together. Now, remember when Ontari tried to lie to Lexa at dinner last night? It's time for the pay back!"

"I can't do this. I really can't do this." Ontari muttered helplessly, standing at the edge of the docks and staring down into the water, Raven rubbing her back and giving a pep talk that was falling on deaf ears.

The rest of their assembled family sat a little further back, watching in amusement whilst they waited for Octavia and Echo to arrive.

"Was subjecting her to Octavia really the best way of bringing her into the fold?" Clarke questioned, as Lincoln handed her a steaming cup of tea from a thermos Abby had gifted to them when she arrived in the city.

Lexa smiled, fingers wrapped tightly around her own cup, "On paper maybe not, but Octavia has a gift for putting things in a reassuring if albeit slightly blunt way."

Nodding, Lincoln settled into one of the folding chairs they had brought down from the tower, "Octavia is brutally honest at times, and that makes her seem trustworthy very quickly. I don't think there's anything to be lost by her talking to Echo first. If she fails to get through to her then Ontari is probably the next logical choice."

"If she ever actually moves from that spot." Clarke muttered, "How long have we been here now?"

"Half an hour at least." Lexa sighed, "I told Octavia that we would be nearly done by the time she arrived, but who knows how long we'll be here."

Looking around, Lincoln shook his head, "Aden and Cal got bored quickly, I doubt we'll see them again before dinner."

"Are you really going to make her swim ten laps?" Clarke asked, as they watched Raven rub Ontari's shoudlers encouragingly.

Eyes narrowing in thought, Lexa dipped her chin. "I am, I have to be seen as impartial. Were Aden, your mother, Kane, and Echo not in the room when she did it then I could maybe let it go. But I can't let it be seen to be ok to lie to me. Especially not in front of Aden, regardless of his maturity, he is still a child and I can't afford to let him witness me giving that kind of behaviour a free pass."

"Aden's not even here." Clarke put forward gently.

"No, but if Ontari doesn't come home looking like a miserable drowned rat, he'll know Lexa went easy on her." Lincoln answered with a chuckle, "I agree, and had I done it, I would take whatever punishment was assigned to me without complaint."

"Then why do you let Octavia get away with so much?" Clarke questioned thoughtfully, "She's a nightmare, and the whole tower knows it."

"She's also not Trikru born, which helps." Lexa answered, pausing for a moment to think. "And there is not a single person, in the entire city, who would for a moment doubt her loyalty to me. That allows a certain amount of leeway. And in addition, she isn't a nightblood, there is no chance she will ever raise her station higher than it is now, so her loyalties are safely assured. Ontari is a nightblood from another clan, perception is everything if I am to build the future we're all working towards."

"I just feel sorry for her." Clarke sighed, looking back at the nightblood on the end of the pier, "I thought she trained with Luna."

"She did." Octavia answered, having came up behind them with Echo in tow, dropping into Lincoln's lap rather than taking her own chair, "But she was so pitiful that she drove Luna crazy and they never finished their training."

Sitting down next to Lincoln and Octavia, Echo looked around at them worriedly, "What if she actually can't do it?"

Lexa shook her head quickly, "I would not be making her unless I was confident she has the ability. She will struggle, but I know she is capable of making it."

"Who's fishing her out if worst comes to worst?" Octavia asked bluntly, a wicked smirk dancing across her face.

Rolling his eyes, Lincoln pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Either myself or Lexa depending on how far out she is at the time. Lexa is the stronger swimmer of the two of us so if she is more than a hundred yards out Lexa will be going."

"And you could look less happy about the whole thing." Clarke told Octavia disapprovingly.

"Hey!" Octavia held up her hands defensively, "Does no one remember when I had to carry her on my back all the way up the stairs to Lexa's throne room?"

"Why?" Echo questioned, staring at Octavia in bewilderment.

Letting out an aggravated breath of air, Clarke shook her head, "Because they're all idiots, Octavia made a stupid bet, which she lost. And paying up nearly killed her."

"I'm just saying," Octavia countered, "Were you not impressed at how amazing I am?"

Lexa held her hand up between the two of them, "Em pleni, we were all impressed Octavia, although please never repeat it, I seriously worried you might die."

Smiling with satisfaction, Octavia nestled deeper into Lincoln's arms before looking over at Echo, "Can you swim? Or is it a shared Azgeda weakness."

"Most city born Azgeda can't, there's no bodies of water close enough to the city for anyone to learn. But I needed to be able to blend in anywhere so Nia made sure I trained until I could passably portray myself as a member of Floukru." Echo answered softly.

Lexa glanced over to her, "And made you learn to track until you could pass yourself off as Trikru?"

"Sha Heda." Echo answered.

Humming under her breath, Lexa looked back over to Ontari, "I spent time training in most clan's disciplines, the only one I never mastered was the Azgeda ability to survive in harsh snowy climates. Nia had the borders tightly controlled even before I ascended."

"So that's why you fell on your ass when you tried to race Ontari across the ice flats!" Octavia piped up happily, completely unfazed by the death glare Lexa sent her way, "I hear things you know. People come from far and wide to tell me their secrets, I have a very trusting face."

"Should I add another three laps onto Ontari's sentence for that?" Lexa growled out.

Grinning, Octavia just laughed, "You could, but it was actually Raven who told me. She was grumbling about how you dragged them out of bed at dawn for a race that you lost anyway."

"Just wait Octavia, there are people lining up to make you pay once that baby is safely out of you." Lexa snarled, but everyone except Echo could clearly hear the undercurrent of humour in her words.

"Try it Commander, you promised me a four clan army of protection." Octavia smiled cockily.

"For the baby not you." Lexa grinned smugly. "But regardless, you owe me a training session for that."

Sighing, Clarke rubbed her forehead, "A return to the endless patch up jobs and idiotic injuries. I can't wait."

"I'm really not that bad." Octavia rolled her eyes, "If people would just stop moving their swords in unexpected ways whilst I'm distracted, then that would help immensely."

"Let me explain to you again the meaning of training." Lexa laughed, before turning back to the two still stood on the end of the pier. "This is ridiculous."

With a sigh, she stood up and strode over to them, wrapping her fingers around Raven's arm and pulling her back gently, pushing her towards a chair next to the others.

As Raven reluctantly joined them, they sat and watched Lexa exchanged whispered words with Ontari who listened quietly, giving a hesistant nod and turning back to the water.

Lexa waited patiently at her side as she took a deep breath, and then another, and another.

After six breaths, she lost patience, shoving firmly from behind to send Ontari toppling into the water.

As the nightblood shot to the surface, gasping for air, Lexa pointed out across the lake, "Better get going, or it'll be nightfall before you get finished."

With a pained noise in the back of her throat, Ontari gritted her teeth and started swimming.