Ilian blinks away the sunlight as he steps deeper into the building.
"What is this problem?" Helia asks
"Do you remember Teben?" and he turns to look inside the home, to the decorations upon the walls and to the table that sits in the centre.
"Yes," Helia says.
"She is prisoner,"and Ilian winces as he takes a too energetic step towards the table.
"She was caught?" Helia asks. "How?"
"I do not know," Ilian says as he comes to a chair, falls into it and grimaces as the pain ebbs. "All that matters is that she is prisoner."
"Has she spoken?"
"No, I do not think so," he doesn't. Ilian is sure she hasn't for he wouldn't be able to have this conversation if Teben had spoken.
"Then we do not need to worry, yet," Helia says as she eyes the way he sits awkwardly.
"Perhaps," Ilian says, but he doesn't want to leave it to chance. "I must get to her," he continues. "Make sure she is not being tortured for information."
"What if she has already spoken?" Helia asks. "And Heda is simply waiting for us to make a move?"
"And what move would that be, Helia?" Ilian challenges. "We have no quarrel with Heda, we have no quarrel with the clans," and he shakes his head.
"They will not understand, " Helia says with a flare of annoyance and Ilian can't blame her for feeling annoyed, for feeling frustrated at whatever is to come.
"Nothing has gone the way we wished," he says with a heavy sigh.
"There were risks when we agreed to do this," Helia says gently, and Ilian can't help but to flinch away as she comes to stand before him, one hip leant against the table's edge as her arms cross. "You knew that. Teben knows that," and Helia pauses for only a moment longer. "Hepoli knew that."
"Do not speak her name," and Ilian grits his teeth, but from anger or hurt he can't quite tell.
Helia scoffs, but he doesn't think the sound is meant to cause offence or to dismiss Hepoli's death.
"We all understand the dangers of tech," Helia says. "You more now than before," and Ilian can't help but to look away. "We need to be careful, Ilian," she continues. "If we are to show the rest of the clans how dangerous tech can be, then we must do it without more setbacks."
"I know," he snaps at her, the days of masking the pain of his hip during his time in Polis tower taking a toll on him.
Helia sighs heavily then, and Ilian finds her looking out a crack in her window and at the people that walk by.
"Azgeda move through the city more these days," and Helia's voice seems a little tight, a little resentful.
"Wanheda is Azgeda," Ilian says with a shrug. "Azgeda do as she says. And she does as she pleases."
"You are content with Azgeda making such a stake on the city?" Helia asks. "They already have more warriors at the Mountain than most other clans. Even in the forests near Arkadia."
"They fought for that right," Ilian says as he pushes himself to his feet.
"You can not be serious," Ilian doesn't think Helia's voice sounds angry or shocked, but perhaps curious.
"There is a shifting of power, Helia," Ilian says. "We all felt it. We saw the first moves in this new world," he pauses. "Nia almost threw the clans into chaos over tech. And now Azgeda seeks to distance themselves from her isolationism," and Ilian wonders what the world could have been like is Nia had succeeded, if she had managed to take control of Skaikru, of Arkadia and the Mountain and all the tech they controlled. "Azgeda's forces have been integrating with the clans, Helia," he says. "There is less chance of them ever fighting against the coalition again."
Helia barks out a sharp laugh then, and Ilian is sure he knows what she will say.
"Is it Roan's doing?" Helia says rhetorically. "Or is it simply because Heda and Wanheda share a bed? What happens when they break? If they fall apart and we are caught in the mess it will cause?"
"Does it matter how this change has come about?" Ilian asks. "Or is it simply important that it has?"
Helia falls quiet then, but only for a moment before pushing off from the tables edge and rolling her shoulders.
"You will need a distraction to get to Teben," Helia says. "And you will need a distraction to get out of the city. They will hunt you."
"Yes," Ilian answers as he begins to move to the door. "I have a clan meeting soon," he says. "Get me what I need. I will do the rest."
Lexa sits atop her throne, her gaze moving from ambassador to ambassador before her. Some, she finds, eye her with a guarded curiosity, some with more open hostility, while those from more friendly clans seem intrigued. And they do for she knows she will be asked about Azgeda's seemingly increased presence in the city, with their warriors moving more freely outside of Azgeda sector than usual.
And to that, Lexa knows her answer.
"Azgeda move more openly through Polis," someone begins, and from their tone Lexa knows them to be friendlier than hostile.
"They do," Lexa answers with a simple shrug of her shoulder, and she feels Titus begin to eye her cautiously from where he stands by her side. "Is that not allowed?" and Lexa raises an eyebrow at know one in particular.
"No, Heda," and Lexa turns to see Kahlan leaning forward in her chair. "Merely an observati—"
"Where is Azgeda's ambassador?" and Lexa feels the twitching in her lip as she eyes Elios who interrupts, one hand gesturing to Clarke's empty chair.
"She is seeing to matters of trade between Azgeda and the Mountain," Lexa says simply.
From the way Elios narrows his eyes, Lexa is sure he doesn't quite believe her, but she knows she can't do much more, can't even dare to deflect more than she has lest she give away what and where Clarke truly has gone, if only because she feels she must be overly cautious in an attempt to give whoever it must be that survived the explosion false hope that their pursuit has lessened.
"The Mountain, Heda," an ambassador says, and Lexa's gaze falls to the Blue Cliffs ambassador who clears his throat.
"What of the Mountain?"
"Azgeda number many in the Mountain and the surrounding forests," he begins, and Lexa sees him wet his lips for a moment, the motion perhaps a little nervous.
"Yes," Lexa begins. "Is there an issue?"
"No, Heda," he adds. "However Azgeda also have many warriors in Polis now— almost their maximum amount allowed."
And Lexa thinks she knows where this goes.
"You think Azgeda number too many outside their borders?" and Lexa lets her voice harden just enough to know the topic is sensitive.
"Some do, Heda," the ambassador says, and Lexa watches as he looks away for the briefest of moments.
"What Tahgo means to say—" Elios cuts in quickly, and Lexa can't help but to feel just a little sorry for the youngest of clan ambassadors. "Is that his clan does not appreciate Azgeda numbering so many outside their borders."
But Tahgo seems to stiffen at that, glare at Elios and then straighten in his chair and harden his features.
"Blue Cliffs does not think there are too many Azgeda outside their borders," Tahgo snarls back, and Lexa watches as Elios inclines his head slightly, the motion more sarcastic than deferential. "I was merely asking if there was a reason."
"Quiet, Elios," Lexa says, and she finds herself wishing she could kick Elios down at least one flight of stairs just once. "Speak, Tahgo."
"There are some clans," and Tahgo looks pointedly to Elios and to the Lake Clan ambassador. "Who do not appreciate Azgeda's role in defeating the Mountain and ensuring the last of the Mountain Men were hunted," Tahgo pauses for a second to collect his thoughts. "Blue Cliffs is not one of those clans. I ask simply because the last time Azgeda was so numerous we were in conflict."
"And you worry that another conflict is upon us?" Lexa questions, and as she lets her question hang in the silence she finds herself eyeing each ambassador before her, some seemingly growing more interested, others becoming more guarded.
"Not worry," Tahgo says. "But I am curious."
"You need not fear," Lexa says. "Azgeda is merely in the process of rotating their warriors out," and she sees a few ambassadors nod. "Things will die down soon," and as Lexa continues to eye Tahgo, she finds herself recalling all that has happened with Blue Cliffs since the Mountain's fall. "How go the cliff side crops?" Lexa asks, but she knows the answer already.
"Well, Heda," Tahgo says with a more free smile. "Skaikru tech has helped greatly."
"That is good to hear," and perhaps it is a little premature, but Lexa mentally crosses off any person in Tahgo's retinue as the sole survivor of the explosion in the forest.
A throat being cleared pulls her attention away from Tahgo then, and as Lexa settles on the Lake clan ambassador. And the expression she finds makes her lips twitch up into the slightest of snarls, if only because she knows Jetta is a woman as annoying as she is blunt.
"So, Heda," Jetta begins. "You would not disprove of Lake clan warriors filling Polis streets?" and Lexa sees Tahgo glare at Jetta from the corner of her eye. "Or our warriors begin to make camp around the Mountain? Just as Azgeda do?"
"It would be no issue if they did not exceed city limits or had reason for their presence in the forests," Lexa says, and she knows Jetta to be confrontational, too quick to seek the betterment of her clan over others. And though Lexa doesn't blame Jetta for doing so, it aggravates her that the woman's clan does little to back up whatever they say.
"I see," Jetta says.
"Now," and Lexa turns her attention to the other ambassadors who have watched the conversation in silence. "To discus the matter brought up yesterday."
And so conversation begins to flow once more, with subtle insult thrown from ambassador to ambassador, and through it all, Lexa can't help but to wonder and to wish she had also been able to follow Clarke in her investigation of the camp.
It's a bit odd, Clarke thinks, to be stalking the forests again. It isn't that sh hasn't done so in the weeks and months since Nia's fall. But all those times she had been stalking animal, prey to feed her, to provide pelts for the villages, to ensure her people would survive just a little longer on the ground.
But now? As she stalks person and not animal?
She isn't sure if she missed it, or if she regretted ever needing to do so in the first place.
Clarke comes to a pause by a large tree as the sounds of water lapping again stone and shoreline ripple out around her. Azgeda warriors huddle close by her, their number just over half of what had left Arkadia with her. She isn't willing to take any risks with finding out what these people plan to do with tech. The furs they wear are dulled, more muted than the bright whites they would wear when wanting to be seen, at least for this instance.
"Clarke," Ontari whispers into her ear as she comes to crouch beside her. "The scouts returned. They found the caves, it looks like there are people in them."
"Good," and Clarke looks over her shoulder to Jenma and Leeton who already begin preparing arrows for easier reach as Bronat slinks from warrior to warrior, lips pressed to ears as he reports what the scouts found.
"What do we do, Clarke?" Entani asks, and Clarke feels the other healer nestle into the shadow behind her, the spear she holds somehow finding space to settle between them both despite how large it is.
Clarke doesn't know if they can reveal themselves without being attacked, but she thinks it unlikely considering Teben and her friends had attacked them as soon as they were discovered.
"We're going to attack them," Clarke says as she turns from the lake and to the warriors behind her. "If you can, capture any alive, but don't risk your lives. If you need to, then you can kill."
Those with her nod their understanding, some even seem to relish in the challenge they are now faced with of incapacitating a foe who would rather die than surrender.
"Clarke," Bronat says quietly as he slinks up beside her. "There are other entrances to the caves," he gestures to one of the scouts, a woman whose lithe body is halfway perched up a tree, eyes turned out across the lake and to the caves in the distance. "They found them as they circled back.
Clarke pauses for a moment to think, but only enough to make sure she considers the numbers before she turns to the scout.
"Dahna," she says. "Keep your scouts spread out around the lake, we'll signal you if we need help, but if anyone tries to get away it's on you to stop them," and she sees Dahna nod her understanding as she slides back down the tree quietly. "Bronat, take ten, go to the other entrances and attack from there, but only after you hear us attack first. I want you to surprise them."
Bronat nods his understanding before winking at Jenma who simply returns the wink with a rolling of her eyes.
"Remember," and Clarke turns to face the warriors with her once more. "We're here to stop them from experimenting with tech. To find out what they're doing. To capture or kill them. But don't be stupid. Stay alert and protect your back."
Lexa takes in a deep breath, holds it for a moment longer than is comfortable then releases it in one long steady exhale. She can't say that the ambassador meeting went well, but she also can't say it went poorly. At least any complaints about Clarke's absence, or Azgeda's increased presence in the streets was left at her explanation. But she knows that won't placate the ambassadors for long.
Titus clears his throat then, and as Lexa opens her eyes to find him eyeing her, hands held together through the sleeves of his long robe.
"Heda," he begins, and Lexa finds him turning his attention to Anya who moves a little closer perhaps in warning, perhaps to better hear what it is that will be said. "I have concerns," he says.
"About?" Lexa leans forward over the table as she looks around her private study attached to the throne room.
"Azgeda," he says, head inclining.
Though Titus can be annoying, though he can be abrupt, Lexa finds that she appreciates it, if only because she can rely on him to not mince words or tread so lightly upon topics that his warnings are not understood.
"Guards," Lexa says and she looks to the two Polis Guards who stand at the room's entrance. "You may leave."
And so both guards bow their heads, acknowledge Gustus, Anya and Costia who both stand aside, and then step out of the room.
Titus waits until the doors close before coming to stand beside her, his brow furrowing just a little.
"There are worries about Azgeda," he begins, and Lexa inclines her head to signal for him to continue. "They are not serious enough yet for more ambassadors to raise their complaints," Titus says. "But they worry."
"About?" Lexa asks, and she looks to Anya who stares down at the map atop the table, eyes taking the drawing of Polis, of the clan sectors and the surrounding forests.
"There are whispers that you favour Azgeda over the other clans. That you will ignore their wishes to satisfy Azgeda."
"And who has these complaints?" Lexa asks.
"Most clans, Heda," Titus says.
"What think you, Anya?" Lexa says, and she looks up to meet the older woman's gaze to find her arms now crossed, jaw clenched and eyes darting left and right as she thinks over the question.
"It is true," Anya says with a shrug. "That Azgeda is taking a more prominent place within the Coalition."
"Yet?" Lexa asks, and she can't help but to look to Costia who, at times like this, always seems to turn inwards, and perhaps Lexa will talk to her, will try to see if there is more that can be done for the woman she cares greatly for— other than giving her space and time.
"Some clans understand that Azgeda is different under Roan's guidance and the forces under Clarke's control are not the same as the Azgeda forces that had swept across the border before the Coalition."
"But there are those that only see the fact that Azgeda warriors patrol the forests, that they have a strong presence at the Mountain," Lexa finishes.
"Yes," Anya says.
And that doesn't surprise Lexa, not at all. But perhaps she had wished and hoped that instead of wariness, the clans would have seen Azgeda's presence by her invitation as a sign that Azgeda was different, that they should be trusted as a core member of the coalition now. And yet, perhaps for only the briefest of moments, it saddened her that it had not quite played out the way she had hoped.
"I expected this to happen," Lexa says, and she did.
"Then why?" Titus asks, and Lexa knows he asks not to undermine, but to ensure she has considered all possibilities.
"Azgeda's place in the coalition, their standing amongst the clans was shaken after Nia's actions," Lexa begins. "It was important that the clans believed in the clan's stability. In their place amongst the Coalition. If that belief wavered then clans would have demanded retribution for Nia's actions."
"It would have caused war, not if. But when," and Lexa looks up to find Gustus nodding his head in agreement, the words he had just said easy enough for all those present to grasp.
"Yes, Gustus," she says.
"The clans annoy me," Anya snorts.
"Yes," Lexa says as tactfully as she can, the slight twitching in Gustus' lips the only sign he lets free whilst Titus' brow furrows even further.
"I assume Azgeda's increased presence in the streets of Polis is your doing, Heda?" he asks.
"Yes," Lexa says, and she wonders how much Titus knows of her and Clarke's suspicions of tech being stolen and used in some way.
"And it is to do with the Prisoner Clarke brought with her," Titus adds.
"Yes," Lexa answers.
And from the way Titus raises an eyebrow, from the way his lips purse in thought, Lexa is sure he knows almost as much as she does.
"You have handmaidens in the storeroom," he continues.
"I do," Lexa says.
Titus sighs heavily, and if at all possible, Lexa thinks she sees the stress behind his eyes grow heavier as thoughts coalesce and solidify.
"I will attempt to dull the ambassadors' worry of Azgeda," and Titus looks down to the map of Polis. "Some will only need simple reassurances, others will need more time and proof that Azgeda is not being given preferential treatment."
"Things will be explained in time," Lexa says.
And with that Titus bows his head, seems to accept her word and turn for the door.
Lexa waits until he leaves before relaxing ever so slightly, the day's ambassador meeting having left her restless and eager for action.
"You do not like sitting still while Clarke is out there," Anya says simply, and Lexa can't help but to avoid Anya's gaze, if only because she remembers what it felt like as a child, a young second, to be questioned much the same about Costia.
"Clarke is capable of returning unharmed."
"I see," Anya nods to herself before uncrossing her arms, one hand instinctively coming to rest atop the knife on her hip. But Anya seems to think her time trapped inside has come to an end for she shakes her head and begins to move for the door. "Come, Costia," and Anya jerks her chin outwards. "I am sure there are seconds I must yell at."
But as Costia smiles awkwardly at Lexa before turning to leave, Lexa finds a thought wriggling in the back of her mind and so, "Costia," and she watches as the other woman pauses. "Please wait."
And so Anya spares one curious glance over her shoulder before she ducks out of the room. Gustus remains, and though she knows he would never disclose what he hears, she can't help but to think it a little too awkward, but he must sense it too for he clears his throat before bowing his head long enough for her to tell him to remain should she wish.
Lexa waits until he, too, slips from the room before she turns her attention to Costia who stands an awkward distance from the door and the table.
"Costia," Lexa begins, and for some reason she thinks her mouth a little more dry than it was moments before.
"Lexa," Costia says.
And perhaps for the first time in a long while, Lexa allows herself to take in the woman she had once loved terribly. And she can't help but to eye the scar that cuts through her cheek and into her lip, she can't help but to eye the slightest of twitching in Costia's fingers, or even the way her hair is braided so that it masks the scar etched into her scalp.
"You are well?" Lexa asks.
"Yes," Costia says with a shrug as she decides to move closer to the table until she can rest her hip against its edge. "And you?"
"I am well," Lexa says.
But Lexa finds herself remembering all the times Costia has been present during clan and ambassador meetings, to even the times when she has discussed things privately with those she trusts the most. And through it all she remembers how Costia always stays near the shadows, always seem not to linger too long in the light.
"I—" she doesn't know how to broach the topic. And that fact saddens her, for she remembers the times when she never even considering not asking Costia anything, she remembers never worrying about how her words might be construed, or how Costia would react. And that fact makes her blood boil, makes her remember the heartache and the rage and hate she had felt towards Nia.
"Speak," Costia says gently. "I know you well enough to know when you wish to say something."
"Are—" Lexa stops for a moment, wonders how to ask. But perhaps she knows she need not ask it in any other way than to simply say, "are you ok?" she knows Costia will understand.
Costia smiles, and perhaps the motion comes a little sad, comes a little forlorn, or perhaps that is simply Lexa's memory, Lexa's imagination, for as Lexa looks longer, she thinks the smile alive, vibrant, perhaps a little scarred, but nonetheless, full of life.
"I am well," and she knows Costia means it. But Costia continues, "you wish to know why I do not speak more than I do in meetings such as this?" Lexa nods. "You wish to know why I stand in the shadows?" she nods yet again. And so Costia's smile turns a little sadder, that Lexa is sure. "It is a hard habit to break, Lexa," Costia says as simply as she can. "It is hard to forget that once I would have been punished for being noticed, it is hard to forget that once my silence was the only act of defiance I had left."
And perhaps Lexa finds herself unsure of what to say, what to do in the moment. But she knows Costia to be strong, the simply fact that she stands before her sign enough.
"And Ontari?" Lexa asks instead of pushing the subject further, in part because it still hurts her to picture the pain Costia went through, and in part because she doesn't enjoy the way Costia's eyes have darkened.
"Things are well," Costia says with a shrug, but this time, Lexa thinks the motion less burdened and more carefree.
"I am happy for you," Lexa says and she thinks that is all that is needed to be said, all that is needed to be voiced for Costia to know she is cared for, not like she once was, for that, Lexa knows, can not return, but in a different way that is no less than it once was.
"And I am happy for you, too, Lexa," Costia says with a small smile. "I should go," and she gestures for the door. "Someone will need to stop Anya from scaring the seconds."
Of all the ways Clarke thought the raid could have gone, this was not one of them. Clarke runs fast, so fast that she is sure she must have set some kind of sprinting record. The cave shakes, rock trembles and crumbles and roars around her. Azgeda warriors run with her, some faster, some only just slower, but each one runs towards the only bit of light they can see at the end of the cave's entrance in the near distance.
And it had been too easy, too simple. They had crept into the caves to find no one near the entrances. They had stalked through the near perfect dark, each person waiting for someone to jump out at them, for someone to attack from the shadows.
And so, when they had come to what was sure to be the campsite deep into the caves, Clarke's senses had begun to spin, had begun to realise things were not as they seemed. Tech lay scattered about, all clearly broken, all clearly destroyed in haste. She couldn't even quite recognise most of what was destroyed except for canisters she thought oddly familiar, or even parts of radios for she would recognise the antenna and mesh of the mouthpiece anywhere.
And she had known it was a trap. And her suspicions were proved when the explosion had rumbled through the rock of the cave.
And so she runs.
Rock and cave wall crumbled behind them, it sprays sharp stone shards in every direction, bits quick to cut into her back, into her arms. Dust stings her eyes, threatens to make her stumble, loose her footing.
A woman yells out in pain as a rock must pierce her leg somewhere for she stumbles, trips, crashes to the ground, but someone from behind somehow, someway rolls onto her, seems to grasp her mid motion and heft her onto his shoulders before continue to run as wildly forward as he can.
And Clarke will worry about who may have been trapped, who may have been crushed as soon as she is free of the caves.
Fear spikes as the dust seems to cloud her vision, as the open air seems to close around her, seem to suffocate, seem to deaden the breaths she can take.
But she runs, she pushes her legs faster and faster and faster. And she can taste it, she can taste the fresh air, the dust and the soot and the sand kicked up by the explosion and the crumbling rock around her.
She hears someone yell for them to move faster, she hears the desperation, the fear, even the anger in their voice. And for a moment Clarke can't help but to think this is how her life will end, she can't help but to wonder if of all the ways she will die, it will be her being crushed by stone, body pulverised and never to be found by anyone under layers and layers of rock.
But just as she thinks all hope is lost, just as she feels the ground beneath her feet beginning to tremble, she breaks free from the caves. She bursts out into the open air with an explosion of dust as the last of the rock crumbles behind her.
Before her lie the rest of the Azgeda warriors who had entered the caves, some lie on their backs, chests rising, some with smiles borne of adrenaline and the closeness of death, some with a dazed expression as soot and dirt covered faces stare up into the blue of the sky, and others cradle injuries from rock having struck them, or of ankles twisted in the scramble to get free.
Clarke counts quickly, she catalogues each face she sees to ensure none were lost, and not until she lands on thirty-four that had entered the caves with her does she let out a relieved sigh.
"It was a trap," Torvun says, his words simple, annoyed and frustrated.
"Yeah," Clarke says as she begins walking to the river's edge. "It was."
"Teben lied to us," Entani grimaces from where she kneels at the lake's edge, hands cupping water as she splashes it onto her dust covered face.
"I am going to kill her," Ontari grunts out as she rises to her feet, hands in the midst of patting out the dirt from her furs.
"Yeah," and Clarke can't blame anyone for feeling angry. "Come on," she says as she eyes those who are injured, but she finds herself glad to see none seem seriously hurt. "Remind me never again to enter a cave system first," she says to Torvun. "That was too close. Let's meet up with the others and get the fuck out of here."